The Load
by The Load
Summary: So many authors, one delicate story. The rules are simple-Bella and Edward can't die and they must be human. We will combine our imaginations and take you for a ride you won't forget. Welcome to The Load.
1. The Road to Yes by shalu and MTK

**BELLA**

To buy toilet paper or milk: that was Bella's choice. She recounted her money, five dollars and thirty four cents in change. It would be all there was until another check arrived tomorrow. _If it arrives_.

She weighed the pros and cons of the two simple items, both necessary. The milk—well, Alice drank the milk like a starved vampire drinks blood: 'til every drop is gone. Bella liked to keep at least a half gallon in the fridge, because at fourteen years old, the calcium was good for her sister. Or at least, that's what they say. Who ever _they_ were, anyway.

The need for toilet paper was obvious, or course. But it was harder to steal milk than it was to lift an extra roll from a public john. So, milk it was. She tried not to be embarrassed as she counted out the quarters and dimes until it totaled the requisite $2.56. With a long line behind her, she felt their eyes and assumptions slamming into her back, making her face pink up, her hands shake, and the simple math complex.

Finally, after a heavy sigh from the dumpy cashier who acted completely put out by the handful of metal tender, Bella left with her purchase. She planned to swing by Dunkin' Donuts, who had their extra rolls in an unsecured cabinet. After buying one Boston Cream, she had four rolls tucked in her huge purse for the reasonable price of eighty-nine cents.

She hated stealing. She missed being able to say she was an honest person. More so, however, because she sucked at it. If she got caught and arrested, Alice would have no one. Nothing. The younger sibling would be put in a group home if not some shitty foster situation where the "parents" were only in it for the extra money. Both of their lives would be, for all intents and purposes, over.

"So don't get caught," she muttered to herself as she started up the old beater she drove and headed home. Her conscience was perpetually nagging her, but she knew her only option was to do whatever it took to take care of her sister.

The day had been another disappointing, fruitless day of job hunting. No one wanted to hire an eighteen-year-old girl with nothing but babysitting on her resumé. She'd been to every store on the main street through Forks, the diner, the county library, and both major grocery stores. She even stopped at Newton's Outfitters and nearly begged the owner's pervy son Mike. He'd adjusted himself none too casually, drank her in head to toe, and explained that his parents were absolutely not hiring, "as much as I'd love to work with you."

Bella took the "no" with grace and walked out of the store before she "adjusted" him with her knee.

The manager at the second grocery store had told it to her straight. "Five years ago, I would have been begging you to come and work here. Now, I'm pulling in crowds just for the part-time bagger position. The guy I'm going to hire has his master's degree in political science. I'm sorry, Ms. Swan."

She had nodded and took back her resumé, wondering how the hell a master's degree made someone more desirable to bag groceries. It wasn't like that helped one decide to put the bread on top of the eggs. Staring at the resumé in her hand as she walked out, she thought to herself, _At least this dude didn't mark it up; I can use it again_. _Paper costs money._

As she pulled into the driveway, the grinding sputtering noises that accompanied the engine shutting down caused her to cringe.

"Please keep this truck alive," Bella prayed to no one in particular. It wasn't just that it was her only means of transportation in this shitty little town. It was one of the last material connections she had to her father. She really missed him, especially on days like this. He was the local police chief until he was killed on the job a couple of years ago. Charlie had been a genuinely good guy, simple in his requirements, and loved his girls more than anything else in the world.

Gathering herself and filling her lungs with forced resolve, Bella slid out of the truck with her milk. Alice walked onto the porch with a huge glass filled with, you guessed it, milk. "Hey, Bells! Any luck?"

Bella smiled even though her heart felt like a raisin, laid out in the sun long enough that any hope she had left began to feel like it had long since dried up. "I had a real promising interview. I feel good about it," she lied convincingly as her sister followed her inside.

_Well, the power's still on. That's something._

Bella set the jug of milk in the door of the refrigerator as Alice began her diatribe of teenage concerns. Fall semester, and ninth grade for Alice, began soon at Forks High School, and the supply list had come in the mail. Bella bit her lip as she read over line after line of items. It really wasn't that many, but given their situation, it felt never ending. Even watching the sales and scouring the circulars, buying Alice everything she needed could easily cost her up to a hundred dollars. That was a hundred more than she had to spare.

Alice easily sensed the concerns rolling off of Bella. "Why don't I talk to the counselor at school? I bet they have grants for school supplies or a donation bin?" the younger Swan suggested, hoping to alleviate some of Bella's stress.

Bella bristled, holding up her index finger to stop her sister. "You need it, I'll get it. We don't have to tell anyone. If your teachers start nosing around..." she trailed off, her windpipe tightening at the thought. "Well, you know what might happen. I can't have that."

Alice sighed. They were both equally terrified of the possibility of being split up. No judge in their right mind would give an unemployed teenager guardianship of Alice. She was a determined and feisty young girl, but Bella was afraid she would slip through the cracks of the overloaded, and underfunded system.

Bella internally cursed Renee. Their flighty mother had finally given up the façade of pretending to be the adult in the household. Renee had always resented their father for "handcuffing" her to this "shithole of a bumfuck town," as she so charmingly put it during their several late-night arguments. Those nights, Bella was in Alice's bed, cradling her young sister and trying to cover her ears. Alice could hear just fine, but it made Bella feel a little better, as though it protected the silently crying girl at all.

Then, several months ago, just before Bella graduated from high school, the three that remained of their family got into a particularly vicious fight. Everyone was yelling at everyone else, slinging blame like sloppy mud pies. When nothing was resolved to her satisfaction (namely with blame elsewhere than her shoulders), Renee had packed her things and left without another word.

Bella had stayed up until dawn waiting for Renee to turn her ass around after a few wandering hours, as she had done a few times after a big argument, but their mother had taken most of her portable belongings this time. Staring out the window at the street, the sun slowly peeked over the horizon and blinded Bella with its harsh light. Usually a quiet, beautiful morning was a welcome thing, but instead of bathing her in the peace and comfort of the sun's warmth, it burned her eyes. Tears trailed down her cheeks, the skin hot with heartbroken fury.

It had been six months. Their mother had not come back. Charlie was dead, and now Renee was as good as dead. Alice had taken the news that she'd not returned with inexplicable stride, as though she always knew it would happen eventually. That didn't hide her own wounds. They'd been abandoned by their mother, after all. The only person that was supposed to love them unconditionally.

Both shell-shocked and numb for a few weeks, the house stayed as clean as it always had, because Bella and Alice worked as a team to clean it. Sometimes, they cleaned together, silently, in the middle of the night because it was something to focus on when the grief and anxiety wouldn't let them sleep. The girls leaned heavily on one another, though Bella refused to allow herself to break down in front of Alice. She had all the responsibility now and it was quite a burden to bear. Almost every shower Bella took for the first month was nearly a half an hour long, thanks to unstoppable crying jags. After the first water bill came in, she relegated any emotional outbursts to the truck, if she allowed it to happen at all.

After Charlie died, Renee moved them into a small rental house, selling the home they grew up in. The girls fought her tooth and nail, but in the end, they had no real say. There was little profit to be made, but Renee "didn't want to be tied down to anything anymore." The full connotations were not lost on Bella.

Any money from the sale, and any insurance money left went in Renee's bank account, to which Bella had no access. She eventually found out it had been closed soon after she left, anyway. Charlie's small pension was honored, and soon after his death, Renee had it delivered to that account in a lump sum, save the many taxes and fees.

Once Renee had fled, Bella was left with her meager savings from babysitting the Clearwaters' son Seth all through high school. That savings was now gone, and all that supported them was Charlie's Social Security checks that thankfully still arrived every month. She often wondered if Renee forgot about those, or had the decency to leave her daughters with something to live on. Not that it covered all their bases—far from it. And even that was sketchy. The checks were addressed to Renee, so Bella would forge Renee's signature. Angela, the kind soul in the form of a bank teller, would cash them no questions asked. She knew Bella well enough and trusted her. Bella felt like a heel every time.

The next day came and went; no check arrived. Another day, and another jug of milk ... no check. Desperate, Bella called the Social Security office in Port Angeles to inquire, posing as Renee.

"Hello, Mrs. Swan. The change went into effect this pay period, so you should have received it at the new address. Let me make sure I have the correct information ..."

The words began to blur in her ears, dissolving into mush as the representative rattled off Renee's new address. Bella didn't want to know, but she hoped it was "Hell." Hanging up without saying anything further, Bella collapsed on the floor. There was no more money, and there was very little she could sell. She would not beg; she didn't want charity.

Alice was thankfully at a friend's house, so she could allow herself to cry openly, snot-sobbing and grabbing dishes to break. However satisfying, the hurt remained, loud and overwhelming. As hard as she'd tried to hold on to everything, to control, to calm, to ... whatever she had to to keep them afloat, Bella felt like she was watching their lives slip like oil between her fingers. Alice was all Bella had, and vice versa. That is, until someone figured out how to rob them of that, too.

She didn't give herself too much time to wallow, however, as she wanted to make sure the mess from her tantrum was cleaned up before Alice came home. After running a washrag under the tap, she wiped the distress from her face. She took a deep breath and worked to sweep up the shards of plates she'd destroyed, and whatever else she'd managed to smash. As she dragged the broom across the tile, her mind wove and darted in and through dark places. There were things she could do to get money, but she'd have to alter her principles a little bit. She refused to strip, or prostitute herself—what kind of example would that be setting for Alice?

The kitchen was once again spotless when Bella headed out to the truck, a couple extra possessions in hand. It took a minute for the rusty old thing to wake up and run, but it finally started.

When she got to the pawn shop in Port Angeles, the needle on the fuel gauge was about to be buried in the red. If this crap didn't get her _some_ money, she was going to be hitchhiking back to Forks. With her head held as high as she could muster the strength for, she walked into the shop, items in hand.

She set the case on the counter and ran her fingers over the ridges. Charlie probably wouldn't approve of her selling his Colt Police Positive revolver, but it could be worth a few hundred, and at this point, anything helped.

Next to the gun case, she set a pair of diamond earrings her mother had given her for her thirteenth birthday. They didn't mean anything to her anymore.

The large, muscular man at the counter looked at her face, saying nothing. He examined the earrings carefully, squinting through the loupe to see the details of the stones. He sighed and shrugged, setting the earrings back on the counter. "I'm sorry, miss," he said, and she knew what he was going to say before he took in the breath to say it. "These are Diamonique. Not worth a dime, I'm afraid."

A blast of hatred burned through her chest as she nodded curtly. "How about the gun?"

Opening the case, he had the same attention to detail in his inspection. A couple of grunts and a hum later, he asked what she wanted for it.

"Four hundred," she said, not waiting a beat.

He chuckled. "Yeah, sweetie, that ain't gonna happen. I'd go to two hundred bucks. It's in decent condition, but it's well used and not really that rare."

Two hundred dollars was great, but truth be told, she was hoping to find out it was highly collectible, or worth thousands. But she knew she was going to have to take what she could get. Bella took a long last look at the gun, resigned to parting with it. Before she could open her mouth, however, the man interrupted her.  
"You don't really want to sell this, do you?"

Her eyes snapped to his. "Well, not really, but I don't have much of a choice, sir," she replied, her voice tired.

"Emmett," he corrected, cracking a smile. "For the love of all that's holy, please don't call me 'sir.' I hate that shit."

His sudden change in demeanor relaxed her a bit. Her lips tried to curve upward. "Emmett."

"So, you need money, obviously," he stated, looking at her like he was trying to tell her fortune. "What about your parents?"

"Dead," she answered flatly. "Look, I'm not trying to be a bitch, but I'm not here for counseling. I got bills, no money, and no job. Can you buy the gun or not?"

His smirk was the only noticeable reaction. "Feisty. I like it."

She narrowed her eyes, preparing to just walk out.

"Chill, baby girl, I ain't comin' on to ya or anything. I just like your spirit," he explained, leaning on his tattooed forearms. "Okay, tell you what. I'll give you the two hundred for the gun, but if you'd rather keep it, I have another proposition that could make you a shitload more than that."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off again. "It's not prostitution or stripping, sweetcheeks. In fact, it doesn't involve sex at all. It may or may not be completely legal, but if you're willing, I'll give you a hundred just to listen."

Her eyes went wide. _Could he be for real? A hundred bucks just to listen to his offer?_ She considered, flip-flopping back and forth mentally until she justified to herself that she'd already broken the law stealing toilet paper and napkins. She hadn't even answered when Emmett slapped a crisp hundred dollar bill on the counter and slid it toward her. She eyed it for a moment, flitting her gaze between the money and his face. Much like someone starving, she then snatched the bill quickly.

He smiled, amused, as he watched her shove it in her pocket. "An associate needs some help ... getting back something he lost."

**EDWARD**

Edward always knew getting involved with Aro was a bad decision, but when you're young, stupid choices and bullshit justifications are easy to come by.

Four years later, at twenty-two, Edward had two arrests on his record. Neither was his fault, but Aro paid him to take the blame. Given the threats he made against his family, he didn't have much choice. So he lied. He also molded himself into one hell of a talented thief.

Under Aro's thumb, he became prized for his abilities to breach any lock, any door, any safe—and in record time. As he was building this persona, he merely focused on not getting caught again. Edward didn't realize, however, that he'd been simultaneously digging his grave: he'd never be free from Aro at this rate.

That didn't mean he didn't have cojones to ask for it. When he walked into the back office in Aro's compound, he had no qualms about cutting the foreplay.

"I want out," Edward barked, his voice strong and unwavering.

Aro didn't immediately look up from the papers he was examining. Scribbling a messy signature and setting the overly expensive-looking pen next to the stack, he finally addressed Edward. "Is that so?"

The tone of his voice was sweet. Sickeningly sweet. And Edward knew that was a really bad sign.

"I've made you a lot of money, Aro," Edward declared, continuing. "I've—"

"Don't you dare tell me what _you've _done for _me_," he cut the younger man off, laughing quietly. "I should be listening to the laundry list of things I've done for _you_."

Edward's jaw tightened as his teeth ground together. Aro never did anything for him, except convince him to cut himself off from the people who loved him, taking advantage of a teenager with a bad attitude and the idea that the world owed him. Thanks to Aro, Edward's parents considered him dead; his former friends thought of him as a cautionary tale and a cracked-out thug (even though he never touched the drugs Aro's brother Caius pushed); and his little brother, Jasper, wasn't allowed to mention him by name.

Sure, Aro had paid him well, but it's not like he used his money for anything good. Because of the life he'd signed up for, any money not paying for rent, his car, or the like, went into a secret savings account that had Jasper's name on it as beneficiary.

Edward stared at Aro, holding his gaze. "Whatever the case," he said through his teeth, "I'm done."

Aro stood, walking slowly around the desk. "So, what are you going to do with yourself, my boy? Go back to school? You never did graduate. I think even McDonald's requires a diploma these days." He was smug, his sarcastically enthusiastic tone gnawing at Edward's every nerve. He stalked forward until he stood nose to nose with Edward. "Tell me. I delight in hearing your dreams."

Edward didn't flinch, didn't budge, but stared back into his dead, black eyes. "I don't care what I do, so long as my life is _mine_ again," he growled, realizing it was the most honest he'd been with anyone, or himself, in years.

Aro held his gaze for a full minute before backing off, a smile slinking over his lips. His teeth broke through and he laughed, lowly at first, but it grew and built, layering amusement upon intention. "You always have had the gift of entertaining me, Edward. You love to surprise me, I find."

He turned and picked up a file from his desk, opening the folder and glancing carefully through its pages. Edward closed his eyes briefly, wondering what the cost for his life was going to be.

"I have a _friend_," Aro overemphasized the word, indicating to Edward that he wasn't a friend at all, but an enemy kept close, "who needs some assistance in a private matter. I believe you've heard of him? Carlisle Cullen? He's a very well-respected surgeon at the county hospital near that tiny town, Forks. There's a particular set of treasures that he ... _lost_, and I've promised to help him find it."

Immediately, Edward knew that Aro knew exactly where it was. In fact, Edward had probably stolen it for him. Cullen sounded familiar. This Carlisle person must have slighted Aro in some way, maybe turned down his "assistance" previously. Edward found it easy to interpret the way Aro worked, so much so that it bored him, sometimes, being able to figure people out so easily.

"Funny thing is," he continued, "I don't want him to find it. It's very important to me that it doesn't get found at all."

_Here we go,_ Edward thought. _Strategic placement of assets._

"You may recognize this?" Aro turned the open folder to face him.

Edward quickly scanned the contents, instantly familiar. His stomach dropped, but he nodded sharply, ignoring the feeling in his gut.

"I suppose you'll have to get it back. It's been sold, but all of my usual resources are at your disposal for its retrieval. You do this one last thing for me, and I'll consider your request."

Edward raised an eyebrow. "If I do anything for you, you'll do more than consider."

Aro's eyes widened in surprise. "I will, will I?"

"And it's not a request. I'm done," Edward sighed. "It was a statement."

Pursing his lips, the older man leaned against the heavy desk behind him. "I see," he said quietly. "You don't even want to part on positive terms, then?"

Edward considered this for a moment. "I suppose I'd prefer it," he admitted. "But it's not a requirement."

Aro burst into a fit of disturbing laughter. "That is precious!" He said finally. "You always had a talent for acting as though you had the upper hand, even during the most dire circumstances."

Edward rolled his eyes, tiring of Aro's attempts at mindfucking him. He'd watched the man break down the most hardened criminals to undiluted confusion with his odd, childlike compliments, fake enthusiasm, and backhanded insults.

"Listen, Edward," Aro began again. "One last job. Then, I won't even be able to remember your face."

"Or the face or name of anyone in my family," Edward added.

"Hmm," Aro teased. "That sounds like a 'yes' to me..."

Edward closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "Yes."

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**Mrs. The King** is the hottest kind of batshit crazy. I'm really glad she's my ficwife. She also loves good toilet humor, which makes us pretty MFEO. Best-known in the fandom for Poughkeepsie (GangstaMett and Priestsper! I FLOVE YOU!), MTK is now slapping faces with her yeasty treat, Gynazole, and an angsty, supernatural mindfuck, The Revenger. Every Emmett she writes sets my panties on fire. Follow her on The Twitter **(at)Mrs_TheKing**, or check out her Fanfiction profile listed in our favorite authors.  
~shalu

**Shalu** is a multi-talented chicka. She knits, designs art, and lucky for us, writes as well. Her specialty is Alice and Jasper themed love stories. She has a delicate way of writing that I just can't stop reading. Currently, she is writing Maelström, a slashy adventure for Edward and Jasper and Grim FaerieTale, a horror romance that keeps you on the edge of your seat, among others. A day spent clicking through her work is one very well spent. Check out her Fanfiction profile listed in our favorite authorsand her Twitter **(at)e_e_shalu** .  
~MTK


	2. Paved with Good Intentions by wytchwmn75

**BELLA **  
The first thing Bella did after she left the pawn shop was find a gas station. She put fifteen dollars worth in the tank, hoping that it would get her through the week at least. Once she was back on the road, she thought over the strange proposition and the even stranger man it had come from. Emmett was still a question mark. Bella didn't think he was a 'good guy' or a 'bad guy;' he seemed to walk the line in between. However, even though she had been prepared to alter her morals slightly, she found it difficult once she was actually faced with it.

_Alice. I'm doing this for Alice, _she kept repeating.

She could do anything if it meant keeping what was left of their family together. Besides, she couldn't really see anything illegal in what Emmett was proposing, but she was a cop's daughter so she knew that when something seemed to be too good to be true, it usually was. There was no sense worrying about it now; she'd already agreed to meet Emmett's "associate." Imagine her shock when she learned it was Carlisle Cullen. She had never actually met the man, but everyone in Forks knew who he was.

Carlisle Cullen was the first staff surgeon at Forks Memorial Hospital, starting long before Bella was born. He had married his childhood sweetheart, Esme, and had two small children. One summer his family went on vacation without him and never returned. No one was sure whether something sinister had happened or if his wife had merely left him. After that, he dove into work with exuberance and made a name for himself throughout most of the state as the heart surgeon. He made the hospital, as well as the community a lot of money by bringing in big cases, but no one really knew anything about him. According to town gossip, he went to work, then went home. That was it. No one ever saw him at the diner, the grocery store, or church.

In the years before Charlie passed, he and Dr. Cullen spoke often and they had become unlikely friends. His job almost always found him at the hospital for one reason or another and they bonded over sutures and late night domestic disturbance calls. Bella always thought that part of her father felt guilty for thinking the doctor was involved in whatever had happened to Mrs. Cullen and the kids. The story was now their very own urban legend, and Bella would be meeting with the infamous doctor tomorrow morning.

Right now, she needed to focus on Alice and what would be done with her remaining eighty-five dollars. Some of it had to be put away for Alice's school supplies. She could send in a few dollars to any one of the bills she owed, but it was figuring out what was the most important and even get them something good to eat for dinner since she knew there would be more money coming her way tomorrow. Emmett had called before, telling her what she needed to know, but she only heard the promise of more money.

"That was Doc," he said, which was how he referred to Carlisle.

"He said that he'll pay you two hundred dollars tomorrow just to come out to his place and talk to him for awhile."

Bella was stunned. _Two hundred _more_ dollars just to talk to him? _

"Seriously?" she asked, doubting him a little.

"Haven't I proved my word is good?" he asked, referencing the money she'd already taken from him. "Besides, he said he recognized your last name and knows you're trustworthy. He did ask that you bring your sister with you, though."

"My sister? Why would he want that?" Bella found this to be a peculiar request.

"I have no idea. All I know is that he's willing to pay you before you even agree to a thing. Look," he said, concern showing in his eyes as he softened his voice, "I know him, he's not a pervert or anything. Both of you will be safe. If it makes you feel better, I could  
probably arrange to have someone go with you."

"You would? Why?"

"Baby girl, you sure do ask 'why' a lot. Hasn't anyone ever done anything nice for you? This is really important to Doc; he's waited a  
long time for it. He's a good guy, and he's not about to screw up now that he's so close. Just go and meet him, bring your sister, make a  
couple hundred bucks. No funny business, I swear. If you don't like what he has to say, you're free to leave—no questions asked.  
Okay?"

"Okay," she acquiesced.

Emmett gave Bella the address, and assured her that someone would be there, either himself or another "associate." All he really said was that Dr. Cullen had lost something valuable to him and he wanted it back. After years of searching for them, he had a solid lead but needed a fresh face to help him out. Emmett insisted she would be perfect for the job and sent her on her way before she had a chance to form any concrete thoughts.

"Bells! Are you going to get out of the car?" Alice yelled from the porch. She hadn't realized she was home already.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about something," she said as she got out of the car.

"It must have been important, I called you three times."

"As a matter of fact it was. What would you like to have for dinner tonight?"

"That's easy: steak, potatoes, corn on the cob, and then chocolate cake for dessert," Alice told her, practically salivating at the thought.

"Then that's what we'll have," Bella said proudly.

"Don't tease. That's not funny, Bells," she said, frowning.

"I'm not kidding, Ali. I got some money today, and we're celebrating."

"Really? What are we celebrating? Where did you get money? How much did you get?"

"I may have a job that will pay a lot of money," Bella told her, deliberately answering only that question.

"That's great, Bells!" Alice said and hugged her sister.

As Bella held her sister, she was glad that she came by this money. Alice was always thin, but Bella would bet that she'd probably be able  
to wrap her arms around her slight frame twice. How had she not noticed this before? Of course, Alice never complained about food, she  
was always happy to have her milk.

_Well, no more_, Bella thought._ Tomorrow after we meet with Dr. Cullen, we're going food shopping. And I'm taking that job with him no matter  
what it is. I can't let my sister slowly starve to death._

Bella made her resolve, content that she now had a plan, and knew that no matter what, she had to keep her sister healthy and safe. She would  
start a very small savings account for Alice, too, this way she would have access to money should anything ever happen to her. It made her  
sick to have to think like that, but after losing Charlie, and the way their mother left, Bella would make sure that Alice was taken care  
of.

"C'mon, let's go to the store now!" Alice said, excited to be given this gift.

They arrived at the grocery store, the same store where she'd applied a job the previous day, and began to walk up and down the aisles.  
Bella was making a mental list for what she would buy tomorrow. She also made sure to grab a flier so she can see what was on sale.  
Although they had the money right now, Bella was still judicious with her choices. She found the two cheapest steaks, the lightest potatoes,  
and smallest ears of corn. The cake … that she splurged on.

During dinner they talked about Alice's upcoming school year. It would start in two weeks, and she was excited and slightly nervous. Bella  
assured Alice she'd do well, giving her the lowdown on all of her potential teachers. Alice was a bright girl, and very outgoing, and  
Bella had no doubt she would do well both academically and socially.

That's when Bella realized she'd have to have _the talk_ with her sister.

_Shit, how do I even bring that up? Oh my God, what if she came home pregnant? What would we do? _

"Bella!" Alice chastised. "I'm talking to you. Seriously, where are you tonight?"

"Sorry, just thinking about you starting school and how grown up you're getting." _And how you're going on the pill. Tomorrow. There's a  
Planned Parenthood in Port Angeles, Jessica always said they were cheap. _

"Well, since I have your attention, I'll tell you all over again how, when school starts, I'm going to see if there are any babysitting jobs  
around town, or if they need help in the office. This way I can start saving up for college or to even help around here. What do you think  
of that?"

"I think you should be a kid and enjoy yourself instead of worrying. But it might not hurt to see if anyone needs a babysitter. As long as  
you keep up your grades." Bella didn't have the heart to tell Alice what she was really thinking, which was without good grades, if Alice didn't get some sort of scholarship, college was out. There was no way Bella would let that happen.

"I promise. Now tell me about this job," Alice asked.

"Well, I'm not really sure about all the details but actually tomorrow morning we're going to Dr. Cullen's house."

"What? Really? Dr. Cullen? Why am I going?"

"He asked that you come along. You know him and Dad were really good friends before we were born," Bella told her.

"Yeah but that doesn't explain anything. What would you be doing for him?"

This was where it got tricky. Since Bella barely knew any information, it wouldn't be like she was completely lying. "I'm not sure yet, maybe just some personal assisting stuff? You know he's written a lot of books and does some online lectures. Probably needs someone to set up those sorts of things and meetings. Boring stuff."

"Oh, that does sound boring. But he's loaded, and since he's a hermit, he'll probably pay really well."

"Alice, that's not nice," Bella admonished.

"It's the truth though."

"Okay, it is, but please don't say anything like that when we meet him."

"I promise not to embarrass you. Or Dad," Alice promised.

They cleaned up the dishes and ate the cake in front of the TV. When it was time for bed, Bella locked the house up tight. She took to propping a chair underneath the front door as a precaution. The next morning as she was finishing getting ready for her meeting, Alice called her from downstairs.

"Bella!"

"What, Alice?"

"Who do we know that drives a Hummer?"

"No one; this is Forks," Bella said, just as she heard a car honk its horn.

"Then who just pulled into the driveway?"

**EDWARD**

"I knew you'd see things my way, Edward," Aro said.

"Just as long as we understand each other."

"Haven't I always been a man of my word? After all, a man is only as good as his promise."

"Is this all the information I need?" Edward asked, not wanting to get into a verbal pissing match.

"There are a few more things that you'll need. They'll be here momentarily."

The door opened and an attractive older woman came into the room carrying a duffel bag. She walked towards Aro, smiling at him adoringly.

"Ah, Renee. Thank you, my dear," he said, taking the bag from her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"You're welcome, Aro. Is there anything else you need?" she asked, glancing towards Edward with a small smile. He noticed she had the darkest brown eyes he had ever seen, and they would have been beautiful if they weren't so void of feeling.

"No, you're free to go," he said, dismissing her.

When she passed Edward, he made sure to get a good look at her. She gave Edward a smile and left the room.

"As I've said, all my resources are available to you. This is a sort of starter kit. I expect daily reports."

"Of course," Edward said stiffly. He knew the rules, he'd help create some of them, but it didn't mean he had to like it.

"You may leave now."

Edward took the bag and was making his way towards the door when Aro's voice stopped him.

"And Edward? Don't do anything foolish. I'd hate for any accidents to happen."

**OoOoOoO**

Edward paced around his apartment in between his bouts of packing. He would be leaving first thing in the morning. Knowing Aro, it was best  
for him to leave as soon as possible. Since he had no intention of returning, Edward decided to pack the few things that were irreplaceable, and would call the landlord while he was on the road to tell him he could sell the rest of his stuff and rent out the apartment. There was the slight possibility that it would take a few weeks before Aro discovered Edward's duplicity.

He was sure that Aro would be more concerned with watching where Edward went rather than where he had left from. Maybe if he played this by the book, things would go smoothly. Checking the contents inside the duffel bag, he was not surprised by what he found. There were the requisite fake documents, a few disposable cell phones, cameras, and enough high-tech gadgets to boggle MacGyver's mind.

Edward closed the blinds and made sure the door was safely locked before he pried open a floorboard in his bedroom. This was where he kept his weapons, real documentation, extra money, unsent letters to Jasper, as well as anything else he didn't want found. He cleaned it out, adding the items to the bag.

Edward thought about what Aro had said to him, about going back to school, and what his dreams were. All he wanted at this point was to get out of the game. He was sick of being Aro's puppet. Maybe if he could really get free—and he had every intention of doing so—he would get to see his  
brother again.

Jasper would be almost sixteen now, and Edward often wondered what he was like. When Edward left home, Jasper was still a little kid, who looked up to his older brother and followed him around all day long. Did he turn out to be a baseball player like he'd always talked about? Was he a brainiac? Or did he fall in with a bad crowd and turn into a delinquent like Edward had? If Edward had been around, how would it have affected Jasper's life? This was something that he thought about at night when he was trying to fall asleep. Everything he did now was for his brother.

It was nearing midnight, and Edward was emotionally spent from his meeting with Aro. After making sure the apartment was locked up tight, he crawled into bed, hoping that tonight he'd sleep through the night. Just one night was all he asked for. The sounds of the city below helped lull him.

Tonight his dreams changed. The demons became angels, damnation became salvation, and despair became hope. However, the secrets still remained.

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Wytchwmn75 writes 100 hours and Dear Bella among other awesome stories check her out on her Fanfiction page or her blog 100-hours(dot)blogspot(dot)com


	3. A Journey of 1000 Miles by KiyaRaven

**A Journey of 1000 Miles Starts with a Single Step ... or a Yellow Hummer**

* * *

**BELLA**

Bella looked out the window in disbelief.

A Hummer was sitting in her driveway..

A bright yellow Hummer, to be precise.

It sat there like a giant Tonka toy—huge, shiny and ostentatious—and Bella jumped when the horn blared. Again.

"Jesus," she muttered as she pressed her hand over her heart. "I'm coming! Keep your damn pants on."

"Do you know who it is?" Alice asked nervously, peeking out from behind the curtains.

"No," Bella replied, "but I'm sure as hell going to find out."

She removed the chair barring the front door and opened it, trying to make herself look as tall and as confident as possible as she walked over to the huge vehicle. She was only slightly surprised when the window glided down to reveal Emmett smiling down at her.

"Hey, baby-girl, how's it hangin'?"

"Ah, well..." Bella sputtered, "there's a giant phallic symbol in my driveway, so I guess it's hanging low and large."

Emmett laughed as he opened the door and stepped out of the cab, patting the behemoth affectionately as he slammed the door.

"Yeah, she's a beauty alright. Crap mileage, of course, and pretty much gives a giant finger to the environment, but cool points? Yeah, she's got 'em."

Bella shook her head and looked up at him.

"So, Emmett ... why are you here? I mean, apart from showing off your giant penis-truck."

He chuckled.

"Well, I figured you could use a ride to Doc C's. His house is on a hill and after seeing the piece-of-shit truck you drive, I knew there was no way in hell that rustbucket could make the trip."

Bella's face immediately turned bright pink as her anger flared.

"Oh, wow. You must have a deathwish to say something like that about her truck," Alice said as she stepped off the front porch and walked over to them. "I know you're all big and muscle-y and all, mister, but if I were you, I'd start running."

Emmett smiled as he watched Alice walk toward him. "So, I guess this is mini-Bella, huh?"

Bella nodded and indicated her sister. "Yeah, this is my little sister, Alice. But don't let her stature fool you; the girl is freakishly strong."

Emmett held out his hand and said, "Is that so, little one? Maybe we'll arm wrestle some time."

"Anytime," Alice said confidently, shaking his hand and craning her neck to look up at his face. "I'm pretty sure I could take you."

Emmett laughed.

"Wow. Feisty, huh? Just like your sister. I like it. I'm Emmett."

Alice nodded. "I figured. Bella said you were big."

"Oh, yeah? What else did she say?"

"That your dimples were adorable."

He grimaced and looked at Bella. "Adorable? Jesus, woman, you called me adorable?"

"No."

"No?"

"No. I called your _dimples_ adorable. I think I said _you_ were kind of shifty, but strangely trustworthy."

Emmett nodded. "Funnily enough, that's exactly what it says on my business cards."

The girls smiled and Emmett gestured to his car.

"Well, ladies, the doc's a-waiting. Shall we?"

They looked at each other and smiled.

"We shall," they said in unison.

...

Thirty minutes later they were standing in the living room of the most lavish house either one of them had ever seen.

"Holy crap," Bella breathed in awe. Alice nodded mutely in agreement.

Bella looked around the luxurious room and wondered what it must be like to have this kind of wealth. To be able to purchase art just because you liked it. To be able to afford fine furnishings and decadent decoration. To not have to watch every penny just to make sure your little sister didn't starve to death.

She had no idea what sort of proposition Dr. Cullen was going to make to her, but she hoped like hell it was something she was capable of doing. Because quite honestly, she was really fucking tired of being poor.

"Good morning, ladies," Dr. Cullen said warmly as he entered the room. "It's so nice to finally meet you both."

He extended his hand to Bella first, and he couldn't help but marvel at how much of a perfect blend of Renee and Charlie she was. Her eyes were definitely like her mother's, but where Renee's were cold and calculating, Bella's were warm and cautious.

"Bella," he said, taking her hand in both of his, "your father told me so much about you. You look exactly the way he described. He was so very proud of you. I hope you know that."

Bella nodded and swallowed. "I was proud of him. He said good things about you."

The doctor smiled. "Well, Charlie Swan was one-of-a-kind. He was taken far too soon. Did they ever catch his murderer?"

Bella shook her head, trying to push down the emotions that always choked her when she discussed her dad. "No. I...ah...I think they've stopped looking now."

Carlisle nodded, his heart going out to Bella for losing her father at such a young age. Of course he had his suspicions as to who had killed Charlie Swan, and one day soon, he hoped to air them.

He turned to Bella's sister.

"And you must be Alice," he said, extending his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hello, Dr. Cullen," she said, smiling, feeling instantly comforted by his warm welcome.

"Please, call me Carlisle."

He looked at her fine features and jet-black hair, and in the same way Bella was very obviously Charlie and Renee's daughter, Alice was very obviously not. Her features were disturbingly familiar, though, and as recognition hit him, his suspicions as to why Renee left were all but confirmed in his mind.

He'd known Charlie and Renee for a long time, but he always suspected Renee had ulterior motives for moving with Charlie to this tiny town.

Even after all of these years, Renee was still dancing to Aro's tune. It sickened him and made him even more determined to stop Aro before more lives were ruined—his own included.

He gestured for the girls to sit and positioned himself in a nearby armchair. His housekeeper brought in a tray of refreshments, which included sandwiches and pastries, and the girls quickly helped themselves, looking sheepish, but hungry.

He immediately felt bad for not seeking them out sooner. He'd only found out about Renee abandoning them a month ago, but clearly, they'd been struggling for a while. When Emmett told him about Bella trying to sell her father's service revolver, he knew that she was desperate. Hopefully the proposition he offered today would go some way toward helping them, as well as himself.

They made small talk for a while, discussing Alice's impending school year and which subjects she enjoyed the most, but eventually it was time to get down to business. Right on cue, Emmett appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, short-round," he called to Alice. "The Doc has a kick-ass billiard table downstairs. Care to be painfully and mercilessly humiliated?"

Alice glanced hopefully at Bella.

"Go ahead," Bella encouraged, "but don't let him see what a pool-shark you are until he shows you the color of his money."

Emmett chuckled as Alice bounded over to him.

"Why do I get the feeling your sister isn't joking?"

"Oh, don't listen to her," Alice scoffed. "I'm terrible at pool. Really. But just out of interest, how much cash do you have on you?"

"Uh ... about eighty bucks," Emmett answered nervously.

"That'll do," Alice said happily as she grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

They left the room, and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence between Carlisle and Bella as the importance of what was about to be discussed filled the air between them. Carlisle knew that there would be a small element of risk involved in what he was asking of Bella, but he needed someone he could trust who wouldn't arouse Aro's suspicion. Even though he knew his old friend had transformed into someone he barely recognized, he highly doubted he would do anything to harm Renee's daughters, even if he did find out their identity.

"So, Bella ..."

Bella swallowed nervously and shifted in her seat.

"I understand things have been tough since your mother left?"

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak in case a vicious tirade against her mother escaped her mouth.

"I'd very much like to help you and Alice," Carlisle continued. "You see, I know someone who's looking for a housekeeper. It would be a permanent position which pays very well, and I would provide an apartment for you and your sister, as well as meet all costs for her schooling—"

"Apartment?" Bella interjected. "We wouldn't stay where we are?"

"No," Carlisle said, coming to the first catch in the arrangement. "Bella ... the job isn't in Forks. It's in Seattle. How would you feel about moving?"

She took a deep breath and considered it. There really wasn't anything left here in Forks anymore, and she'd certainly exhausted any employment opportunities in the small town. Leaving had already crossed her mind, but quite honestly, she was thinking of somewhere closer, like Port Angeles. Seattle was ... well, Seattle wasn't just a different city. It was a whole other world.

But still, a job? A _well-paid_ job? And Alice's education would be taken care of? Dammit, it seemed to good to be true.

"What's the catch?" she asked, suddenly feeling very much like the overly-suspicious daughter Charlie had raised her to be.

Carlisle chuckled and looked at his hands, enjoying seeing his old friend so clearly in this young woman.

"Bella," he began, needing to give her some backstory, but trying not to reveal too much, "the woman you would be working for is ..." God, how could he possible describe her? How important she was to him? How much he missed her? "She's a very dear friend of mine who ..." —_it kills me to be parted from_— "... I haven't seen for a long time." It was a sacrifice he had always resented making, and considering how things turned out, one that didn't have its desired effect.

"She has two sons. One not much older than Alice, and the other ..." The other could be dead for all he knew, even though he desperately hoped he wasn't. "The other is a few years older than you. I haven't seen them for many years, but ... I very much want to know what's happening in their lives. All I would want from you is information. How they're doing, who they see. Perhaps some photographs. Nothing ... illegal as such, but certainly ... questionable."

Bella frowned. It seemed easy enough, and not overly immoral.

"If you agree to the job and the move, I would enroll Alice at the same school as the younger boy. I would like them to become friends. I want to know how he's doing in school, what he's interested in." Carlisle could feel familiar emotions stir inside him as he talked, but he needed to stay calm. He needed to be detached and objective.

"And the older one?" Bella asked. "Is he in college?"

_If only_, Carlisle thought bitterly. _If only my old "friend" hadn't managed to get his claws into him, despite me distancing myself._

"The older boy is ... he hasn't been home in a while. Several years, in fact. Last I heard, he was in California, but I know his mother is worried about him. He used to be very close with his brother, and I'm hoping that he tries to contact him." Carlisle sat forward in his chair. "Bella, if he does make contact, I really need you to speak to him. Find out where he is. It's very important."

It made Carlisle sick to think of how much danger he was in, swimming with sharks and having no clue how much they thirsted for his blood. If Bella could find out where he was, he might have some chance of warning him. Saving him.

But of course all of that was academic until Bella agreed to his proposal.

Bella was studying the doctor very carefully. This was obviously a big deal for him, and although she could tell he was trying to stay calm, he was very clearly agitated. Desperate.

"I know I'm asking a lot," Carlisle said, sighing and clasping his hands in front of him, "but I need someone I can trust, Bella, and I truly believe I can trust you. Will you help me?"

Bella looked into the doctor's eyes and knew she couldn't refuse. Apart from her desperation to elevate herself and Alice from the pit of poverty they were currently occupying, she had a strong instinct that she was supposed to help Dr. Cullen, that it was right. Fated.

Perhaps this was exactly what she and Alice needed. A fresh start, away from all the bitterness that seemed to stain every memory she had of Forks.

Housekeeping? It was a job she knew she could do, and do well. Information gathering? She was a policeman's daughter. That had to count for something, right?

"Sure, Dr. Cullen," she said finally, smiling as the man's face lit up. "When do I start?"

The rush of relief that Carlisle felt was astonishing. He quickly stood and collected a large folder from a side table and handed it to Bella, feeling giddy with anticipation.

"This contains all the information you need. Please look it over and let me know if you have any questions."

Bella opened the folder and perused the contents.

"Esme Masen," she read, "124 Maple Drive, Seattle. Sons: Jasper, sixteen, and Edward, twenty-one."

She came across a photo of a beautiful woman with two teenage boys: one with hair like hers, the other fair. They were smiling and standing on the front steps of a house. The younger boy had a very familiar smile. She studied him for a moment and then realized why.

She looked up at Carlisle and smiled.

"Doctor Cullen," she said softly, "you have a beautiful family."

...

Two days later, Bella and Alice had packed up their entire lives into a small collection of boxes that were littered around their tiny house.

Bella was excited to move on. After Renee had sold their childhood home—despite having begged her not to, she hated leaving. She could see Charlie's spirit in every room, his shadow on every piece of furniture.

But this place? It held nothing of her father, and the memories she had of her mother here weren't worth holding onto.

Alice had been quiet while they packed. When Bella had initially told her about the move to Seattle, she was excited, overflowing with enthusiasm that Bella had a job and her new school had a wonderful arts program. But as the day of the move approached, she became more and more withdrawn.

The morning of the move, the house was quiet. Normally when Bella woke, Alice would already have music blaring from her room or be singing loudly in the shower, but today, there was a distinct lack of energy in the air.

"Alice?" she called.

The house was silent. She frowned and walked the few steps down the hall to her sister's room and glanced inside. The bed was empty, sheets and blankets neatly folded and sitting in a box next to it, but Alice wasn't there.

She made her way downstairs and found Alice standing in the living room in front of an open box, still wearing her pajamas, staring at one of the few portraits of the Swan family still in existence. It was taken about six months before Charlie was killed, and although everyone was smiling, it was clear no one was really happy.

When she heard her sister's footsteps, Alice didn't look away from the picture but asked quietly, "Bella, do you think Mom ever really loved us?"

The simple question almost took Bella's breath away, because it was one she often asked herself. The problem was, she didn't have a simple answer, and as she looked into her sister's confused eyes, she sighed and said, "I don't know, honey. I hope so."

Bella never felt like Renee was ever truly _with_ them. She seemed resigned to be a wife and mother to people she didn't particularly like, and who she wouldn't spend time with if she had the choice. Now she'd obviously given up the illusion of motherhood and had chosen anywhere but here, and anyone but her and Alice.

Bella hated her mother just a little bit more every day.

"I can't remember the last time she said she loved me," Alice said as she went back to studying the portrait, the false curve of her mother's smile sickeningly familiar. "Moms are supposed to say that to their kids, like, every day, aren't they? I mean ... that's what normal moms do, right? Stroke their daughter's hair and kiss them and tell them they love them?"

Bella sighed.

"Alice..."

"And you know the worst thing?" she continued. "I don't remember the last time I said it to her, either. I said it to Dad all the time, but Renee?" She turned to look at her sister. "Did she leave because I didn't say it to her, Bells? Could she tell I didn't love her like a daughter should love her mom? I mean, I kind of always knew she was going to leave, and I still didn't say it. Does that mean I wanted her to go?"

Bella hated that Alice even entertained the possibility that their mother's astonishing selfishness was her fault.

"Alice, don't be ridiculous," she said firmly. "Mom left because she was..." —_a selfish bitch who should be charged with goddamn reckless abandonment and be locked in a cell with a bull-dyke named Frankie who regularly sodomized her_— "... unhappy. Not with you, but with her life in general."

Alice nodded.

"I guess..."

Bella walked over to her sister and stroked her hair gently.

Alice sighed and put the portrait back in the box.

"When we move, she won't know where we've gone, will she? She won't be able to find us?"

"No, honey," Bella said quietly.

Alice closed the box and taped it firmly shut.

"Good."

* * *

**KiyaRaven** is the awesome creator of Asstard and Piss-Girl (_The Screamers_) and WindowWard (_Grasping Darkness_), among others. Check out her Fanfiction page (link in Our Favorites). She also spams Robporn on Teh Twitter (at)KiyaRaven.


	4. Masen Residence by Delandora

**A/N Chapter four is brought to us by Delandora. She has written six pieces for the Twilight fandom. ****Please check out the link to her page on this profile and drop her a review!**

**~8~o~8~o**

**Bella**

It was the early morning hours and still dark outside by the time Alice and Bella finished loading all of their belongings into Bella's truck. They were soon following behind Emmett's Hummer as they made the long and tedious drive from Forks Washington to Seattle.

The sun was barely peeking up over the horizon as Bella marveled at its beauty. Still keeping an eye on the road, she observed as the sky morphed from a dark navy to a blended assortment of bright blushes and corals; the image made her smile. Even through all of the heartache and rough times, in that moment, she knew that there were still some things in the world that were beautiful; some things that were still worth living for – fighting for, and her sister was one of them.

She turned her head slightly to check on Alice, who had fallen back to sleep shortly after leaving Forks. She watched the rise and fall of her younger sister's chest as she breathed, noting how peaceful she looked in slumber. Bella was glad to see that Alice seemed content, as she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. She knew that Alice usually tried to put on a brave face for her in the past, but between the new move, and still wondering if their mother ever really loved them, her facade slipped, and she cried on Bella's shoulder almost the entire night.

As the trees on the right side of the highway became fewer and fewer, Bella imagined that they were getting closer to their destination. They'd been driving for almost four hours and she was ready to finally be out of the truck, and stretch her tired limbs. Just as the thought occurred to her, Emmett flipped on his left blinker, signaling for them to turn off from the highway.

Bella followed dutifully behind Emmett on a gravel road that was surrounded by nothing but plush, green forestry on either side of them. After a short drive, they finally reached a break in the trees where a small but beautiful home rested just inside the clearing. The house was white with cinnamon shutters, and a light coffee-colored door. Orchids, lilacs, and tulips lined the walkway, stopping just at the stairs that lead up to the house. Surely this wasn't where they were supposed to live. Carlisle had said that he'd provide them with an apartment, but this... this was a house.

Bella parked her car alongside Emmett's and shook Alice's shoulder, trying to rouse her. "Alice, wake up." Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Alice yawned, asking Bella where they were.

"I'm not sure yet," she shrugged. "Let's ask Emmett." Both girls removed themselves from the cab of the truck to question Emmett. He stood beside the driver's side door of his massive vehicle, arms and ankles crossed as he slowly let a cheshire grin spread across his face.

"Where are we?" Bella questioned. Emmett lifted his arms, making a sweeping motion for them to observe what was right in front of them.

"I know Carlisle said an apartment, but this is much better, don't ya' think?" Alice and Bella's mouths dropped open simultaneously as they both observed the scenery. This was where they were going to live? They couldn't believe it. With a glimmer in his eye and a smile still on his face, Emmett announced, "Welcome home, girls. Welcome home."

_Home_. Such a foreign word on their tongues, as neither of them had felt at home since Charlie died. But this was a new beginning, a new start into the next chapter of their lives, and Bella was committed. Short of selling her body for money, she would do anything required of her to keep Alice and herself fed and clothed, to get Alice into a decent college, and of course... an endless supply of milk.

After getting over the initial shock of their new home, the three of them began to unload all of the girls' belongings into the house. They didn't own much, so the trips back and forth were few, but by the time they were finished, their bodies were tired.

After explaining to Bella how to get to Esme's house from the directions Carlisle's had given her, it was time for Emmett to head back to Forks. He paused, his hand still resting on the door knob before he turned back around to face the girls.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Reaching into his pocket, Emmett pulled out two one hundred dollar bills. "Carlisle wanted you to have this, baby girl." At the start of Bella's protests he continued. "It's not for charity, just think of this as a bonus. I'm sure you'll earn every penny of it in due time."

Even though Emmett had said it wasn't for charity, Bella couldn't help but think that it was. She hated things given to her out of pity, and Carlisle was a good man. Surely this was pity. However, with their current situation, she decided that she had no room to be picky. They had no food in the house and they were hungry after moving and driving all day. With a sigh, Bella held out her hand. "Thank you, Emmett."

"Don't forget, you start tomorrow at nine o'clock. Have a good night, ladies," Emmett winked, shutting the door behind him.

Nothing but silence ensued after the click of the front door signaled it had been closed, leaving Bella and Alice alone to stare at one another soundlessly. No emotion could be seen in either of their features as their primary focus was solely on the other one's face, but it didn't take long for both of them to break.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!" Alice screamed as she jumped up and down.

"Can you believe this?" Bella yelled at the same time, grabbing Alice's hands and twirling them both in a circle, equally as ecstatic about their new home as her younger sister.

"What do you want to eat tonight?" Bella asked, mouth slightly watering at the mention of food.

"Mmm," Alice moaned, licking her lips. "Oh... can we have quarter-pounders? I can't even remember the last time we had a big and disgusting greasy burger." Bella giggled, nodding her head excitedly in consent.

After navigating their way through town, Bella stumbled upon their destination: McDonald's. The girls went inside, placed their orders, and seated themselves immediately.

"I swear to God this is the best food I've ever eaten," Bella mumbled around large bites of unchewed food. Alice hummed incoherently as she frantically stuffed fries into her open mouth.

The two deathly-thin girls were aware that they were probably making somewhat of a spectacle of themselves, but both were too hungry to care about something as trivial as manners.

There was a sudden titter of apparent giggles to the right of their table. Bella, still concentrating on her dinner, didn't hear a thing, but Alice did. She abruptly turned her head to the side, staring daggers directly at the stranger who was unabashedly laughing at them.

"Hungry?" The unfamiliar boy asked, one side of his mouth raised in a smile. There was no malice to his face, just pure amusement. Alice immediately softened her features upon noticing how gorgeous and carefree he seemed. He had light sandy blond hair that fell just to his ears in easy waves. _And his eyes,_ she thought. _They're so blue. _

Bella finally looked up from her almost finished meal to see that Alice was openly staring at a boy about her age across the table, mouth slightly agape. The boy look vaguely familiar to Bella, but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen him before. Without dwelling much further, she tried to subtly tap her sister's leg with her foot to break the spell she seemed to be under, but ended up accidentally kicking her instead. Hard.

"Ow, Bella. What the hell?" Bella narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, inconspicuously trying to tell Alice that she was staring. Alice's eyebrows were still quirked in question, clearly not understanding what her sister was trying to tell her.

Trying to save Alice from further embarrassment, Bella held out her hand for the boy to take. "I'm Bella," she smiled. The boy grinned, holding out his hand.

"Jasper," he nodded. _Jasper, s_he thought. Why does that name sound so familiar?

"And this is my sister, Alice," she continued. Jasper released Bella's hand to reach for Alice's. Instead of shaking her hand as he had done to Bella, he gently pressed his lips to her knuckles.

"It's a pleasure," he winked. Alice slightly blushed, a trait she clearly got from her sister, and folded her hands neatly in her lap. "I haven't seen you two before. Are you new around here?"

"We are actually," Bella said. "Just moved here today." The boy, Jasper, wasn't looking at Bella as she explained herself, instead he was watching Alice, eyes glazed over as if he were deep in thought. Deciding to play match maker, Bella continued. "Alice starts school tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?" Jasper asked, eyes still locked on Alice. "Which school?"

Alice, finally finding the nerve to speak, answered. "Uh, Whitman Middle School."

"What a small world. That's where I go. Maybe I can show you around a little tomorrow."

"That'd be great."

"Well, I should probably get going. Nice to meet you, Bella. See ya tomorrow, Alice." Jasper waved and started for the door, but he didn't get far before Alice yelled out.

"Hey, Jasper?" He turned around, brows lifted in question. "What's your last name?" Jasper's grin was infectious, and Bella couldn't help but smile at the younger boy as he answered.

"Masen."

**~OO~OO~OO~**

"Alice come on you're going to be late for school," Bella yelled from the bottom of the staircase. She had made sure they got up thirty minutes earlier than they normally would have, and still they were running behind. It was seven-thirty, and she was supposed to register Alice in school and still get to work by nine o'clock. She wanted to make a good impression on Esme, and being late on her first day wouldn't help that.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Alice hollered back as she tromped down the stairs, book bag in hand.

"We'll have plenty of food by the time you get home today, I promise." Bella felt bad for not having any breakfast for Alice this morning, but after eating dinner last night, they were both too exhausted to go to the store. Bella did, however, give Alice lunch money so that she'd have something to eat at school.

"It's no biggie, I'm too nervous to eat anyway," Alice replied. _I wonder why,_ Bella thought, smiling affectionately at her sister.

"Could it have anything to do with a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed boy?"

"Maybe," Alice shrugged, grinning impishly.

_Jasper Masen,_ Bella thought to herself. Now that she was thinking about it, the Jasper she had seen last night did hold a striking resemblance to the good doctor. She thought back to the packet of information and photos that Doctor Cullen had showed her just a few days ago, and wondered how she could have forgotten his face. She was supposed to gather information about, not only him, but the rest of his family as well, and she didn't even recognize him at first. It wasn't until Jasper had told them his last name that recognition struck her. She felt stupid.

"Come on, we've got to go." Bella and Alice headed out of the door, locking the house up behind them. The school wasn't very far from the house and neither was Esme's according to Emmett's directions, so Bella knew she would make it to both places on time.

After parking and walking across the lot with Alice, the girls made their way inside the large brick building to the office. Alice wasn't made to stay in the room with Bella while registration took place. Instead, Mrs. Cope, the secretary, told Alice that there was a request from a student to show the new girl around today. The secretary pushed a few buttons, and within moments was asking the teacher over a loud speaker to send Jasper Masen to the office. Alice could not hide the smile that etched her face.

The registration didn't take a long time. It was actually fairly easy as the secretary told her that a Carlisle Cullen had already called in advance and had Alice's school transcripts transferred. _I wonder how he knew I'd take the offer,_ Bella thought. Too caught up in her own nervousness with starting her new job, Bella didn't ponder the question for long.

Twenty minutes later, she was pulling up to the driveway of a rather lavish two-story home. Everything on the outside was meticulous and beautifully built. Carlisle's family seemed to be doing very well.

She secretly wondered how Carlisle was forced out of his family's lives. What had happened to make him leave, and why did he not seem to know much about how they were living? _I wonder how long he's been gone?_ Bella questioned herself. _He doesn't even know where his oldest son is._

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Bella held a slightly shaking fist to the door and knocked timidly. Within moments, the door was opened and the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen politely greeted her. "You must be Bella," the woman smiled. "I'm Esme. Please, come in."

"You'll have to forgive me," Esme continued. "My son, Jasper, just left for school and I'm still running a bit behind today. I'll go over things with you shortly if you just make yourself at home while I finish getting my things together." Bella seated herself comfortably on the couch that was centered in the den as she waited for Esme to return.

Bella was nervous. She'd never had a job outside of babysitting before, and she was afraid that she wouldn't be qualified. Did she already have the job, or would Esme be the one to actually allow her the opportunity to work in her home? Carlisle was the one who originally offered the job to her, but did Esme know that? What was she allowed to say? Should she say anything at all about Carlisle? Bella suddenly wished she would have asked Carlisle all of these questions before starting, but she was too excited about the prospect of being able to finally support Alice and herself, to have given the details much thought.

The phone rang loudly, startling Bella out of her thoughts. "Could you get that for me, dear?" Esme asked.

"Sure," Bella acknowledged, standing to grab the phone.

"Hello," she answered. "Masen residence." Nothing but silence and a bit of static could be heard on the other end. "Hello?" Bella asked again, hoping that whoever was on the line was still there.

"Uhh," the voice of a man spoke quietly, shattering the silence. "Is Jasper there?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Bella replied, remembering that Esme had just told her that her son had already left for school. "He's left for school already. Can I take a message?"

"Could you just ..." he started quietly, dropping his voice to barely above a whisper, "tell him that I called." He sounded so dejected, sad.

"Will he know who this is, sir? You didn't leave your name."

"I'm not sure if he'll know it was me that called. Just please, let him know that I did."

An idea of who was really on the phone clicked in Bella's mind. She had a pretty good idea of who was calling, simply because they were so reluctant to answer her question about who they were. Without conscious thought to what she was about to say, Bella asked something that would later prove to be detrimental to both of them.

"Edward?"


	5. Lead the Way by m81170

Written by m81170

Beta'd by xsecretxkeeperx

_**. . . . . .**_

**Edward**

Every cell in Edward's body went cold at his whispered name. He didn't recognize her voice, and it put him on edge that some stranger could easily assume he had called his brother.

"Who is this?" he asked, knowing that he should deny his name or at the very least hang up the phone. He didn't quite understanding why he couldn't bring himself to do either.

There was a stilted pause before the girl said, "I'm… a friend."

Edward laughed bitterly. "I don't have any friends." Indeed, he hadn't had a friend for several years. Acquaintances, yes, and associates, but not friends. To have a friend meant he would have to trust someone other than himself.

"I want to help," the girl said, dropping her volume further as a much more familiar voice asked, "Bella, who is on the phone?"

Edward's heart nearly beat out of his chest when he heard his mother speak in the background. He was immediately transported to another, much happier time in his life — a time when the woman that had just spoken and his brother were the centers of his universe. It'd been years since he heard her voice and his stomach twisted almost painfully at the sound of it.

"Don't tell her who it is," Edward hissed.

"No one, Mrs. Masen. It's just a telemarketer."

"All right, dear," Esme said; he could easily picture the sweet smile tugging at her lips. "Would you mind just hanging up the phone? Though I can appreciate you being polite, I would rather not encourage them to call here."

Bella assured his mother she would and waited presumably for her to leave the room before saying, "Please, tell me where you are."

Edward thought this girl had to be certifiable. That, or she thought he was a complete idiot. "Goodbye, Bella," he said, hanging up the payphone and effectively ending the call. He made his way back to the café table where his food sat waiting for him and felt even more on edge than he had been.

_Bella_, he thought to himself. He didn't know of any Bellas on Aro's payroll, but Edward was hardly privy to every secret his employer had up his sleeve. Still, it didn't feel right. Aro would not have shown his hand so early. Had Bella been sent by him to watch Edward's family, she would have played dumb over the phone or laid out a blatant threat.

Edward sighed heavily before diving into his eggs and bacon. It would do him no good to get distracted when he was so close to freedom. He did not like this girl being around his family, but he was content to let her be for the moment. When he was done with Carlisle Cullen, he would turn his attention to Bella and find out exactly what she wanted from him and the people he loved.

For the past week, Edward had been driving back and forth between Forks and Seattle, doing reconnaissance on Cullen. His eyes scanned over the case file Aro had given him, but it was as useless as the information he had gathered on his own. The Doctor's history was filled with holes. He'd had a family once, but their names and what had happened to them was unknown. The town seemed to think he was some sort of murderer or spy. From what he knew about Aro, Edward thought "innocent man" was more likely.

Edward studied the pictures next, but like the documents, there wasn't anything he could gather from them other than what Cullen liked for lunch or which street he took to work. Edward dropped his fork noisily to his plate and hesitated only a short moment before pulling out his cell phone and loading the GPS. He pulled up a map of Forks and felt his pulse quicken.

_It's probably nothing_, he told himself. Just an odd quirk of the Doctor's.

But quirk or not, it was something more than the nothing he'd had all along. The shortest distance between Carlisle Cullen's house and the hospital was not the route he took every day. In fact, the street he took was at least five minutes out of his way. Edward searched the internet for names of stores or residences on the street and cursed at the results.

Forks was small and had apparently been left behind when the rest of the world went digital. Any information he gathered would have to be done in person, and Edward sighed in annoyance as he realized he'd have to take yet another trip to the desolate town tomorrow morning.

He tried to focus on planning his trip, but despite telling himself Bella was not an immediate threat, he couldn't get her out of his mind. A friend, she had called herself. In what way did she mean? She could be a friend in the way that she truly wanted to help him (he tried not to scoff aloud) or she could be a friend in the way Aro was a "friend." That thought made him shudder.

No, he couldn't believe that. Perhaps it was wishful thinking or just the natural sincerity in her voice, but he did not consider Bella, whoever she was, to be as vile as Aro. And he definitely could not entertain the idea she was there to hurt his family.

The crack in his heart splintered as he recalled his mother's voice coming over the phone. He missed her terribly, and he wondered how she might have responded had Bella told her who was actually on the line. He knew she would never forgive him, but did she miss him at all? Did she still love him?

"Hey, sugar, you done with breakfast? Can I take this from you?" the waitress asked, breaking into Edward's thoughts.

He waved his hand dismissively, and she collected his empty plate and utensils. When he noticed she hadn't moved to leave the table, he glanced up from the Doctor's file, folding it closed and discreetly hiding its contents. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Would you like some pie today?"

"It's 9:30 in the morning. It's too early for pie," he said, ignoring the flirtatious way the waitress had framed her question.

"It's never too early for dessert, I always say." The waitress had clearly not caught on to Edward's disinterest, driving the final nail into the coffin by saying, "And I make great _pie_."

Edward gritted his teeth in irritation. One of his biggest pet peeves was when people turned food into innuendo. No matter how hard he tried, the food never tasted quite the same after it had been contorted in a sexual manner. He would never look at pie the same way again.

Perhaps if he had been anyone other than Esme Masen's son, he would have taken the young, attractive waitress up on the offer. But Esme had always taught Edward and Jasper a healthy respect for women (even when those women didn't seem capable of respecting themselves), and whatever faults Edward may have had during his teen years, he had always carried that with him.

"No, thank you," he said in an evasively calm tone.

The waitress seemed to take the hint, giving him a playful smile before retrieving the bill. He rolled his eyes at the seven digits underlining his waitress's name and left her a generous tip as consolation for rejecting her. As he left the café, Edward thought forward to the next morning and hoped to God it would bring him one step closer to living a free and possibly happy life.

_**. . . . . . .**_

Edward's lack of focus frustrated him. The drive to Forks was typically long and boring, four hours of nothing but trees and concrete. Besides needing to pay heed to the wet and slippery roads, Edward usually spent this time preparing his mind for his current task. Not today, however. Today, he was divided between Carlisle Cullen, Esme and Jasper Masen, and Bella… just Bella.

Perhaps not knowing her full name was why the mystery voice invaded his thoughts so often. She was an enigma, and Edward loathed not having all the facts. This reason, similarly, was why the Cullen case aggravated him to such a large degree. It wasn't that Aro didn't often send Edward out with little information, only that he would have generally found something by now. This small detour in the Doctor's driving habits was the first lead Edward had had, and it wasn't all that promising to begin with.

That Aro seemed so unsurprised and uncaring about Edward's lack of knowledge also perturbed him, though in a far more terrifying way. Edward knew the penalty for failing his employer, having seen it happen to certain associates in the past and having messed up, himself, twice in his early years. It didn't make sense that there would be no threats, no beatings, no anything. Aro was playing with him, like a cat would play with a mouse before ending its pathetic life. He just wasn't sure how Carlisle Cullen played into that equation.

Edward's thoughts shifted once more to his mother and brother as his thumb tapped restlessly against the steering wheel. Would he ever get the chance to make amends? Would they be safe if Edward fell into Aro's trap? Was it possible that Bella was there to protect his loved ones from that very fate?

Edward shook his head roughly and told himself to concentrate. He needed to stay focused, get this job finished, and move on. No distractions.

It was as though the universe had heard him and was getting revenge for all the wrong he had ever done. Edward tried to ignore the flashing emergency lights of a vehicle further ahead. It was only half past five in the morning, and without the sun having broken the horizon, he could only just make out the silhouette of a truck pulled over haphazardly on the side of the highway.

He ground his teeth and clutched the steering wheel a little tighter, determined to drive by without stopping to help. He had work to do. He couldn't afford to lose any time. _No distractions_.

But his nature would persist — the moment he drove by the rustic truck, guilt and sympathy filled Edward for the unlucky traveler stranded on the side of the road. The torrential rain was only icing on the proverbial cake. He huffed in annoyance at his own chivalry as he pulled over.

He climbed out of the warmth and comfort of his car, thankful at least for his hooded jacket, and made his way to the junker behind him. The driver of the truck practically leapt out of their skin when Edward pounded on the door, and then struggled to roll down the manual window.

Edward might have found this amusing on any other day, but as he was standing out in the rain getting soaked, he rather wished they'd just open the damn door. Finally, when the window was about halfway down, the driver seemed to decide it was low enough to talk.

"Um, hello?" an unsure female voice said on the other side of the window.

"Do you need some help with your truck?" Edward asked, attempting to make out the girl's face by the dim light of dawn. The sun would be up in minutes.

"I'm— I'm not really sure," she answered. "It just stopped running about twenty minutes ago. I mean, it is old," Edward had to smile at this; even from a distance he could see the truck was ancient, "but it's never just stopped working like this before."

"Well, why don't you pop the hood and I'll have a look?" Edward prompted, hoping to get this done quickly so he could continue with his mission.

"I'd really appreciate that."

The girl made to open the door, but Edward kept himself in the way. "Why don't you stay inside? There's no reason for both of us to get soaked," he pointed out, once again impressed by his own gallantry.

"I would, but the hood only opens manually."

Edward relented, and the girl went to pop the hood while he searched his trunk for a flashlight and the small toolkit he kept with him for occasions such as this. Admittedly, he did not know much about cars, but he had picked up enough over the years that he could, if nothing else, _appear_ useful.

The girl seemed to be having issues prying the hood open, so he jogged back to her side, intent on helping her. The sky was slowly beginning to lighten, and he could make out that she was young, perhaps in her late teens or early twenties, brunette, and rather small.

"Why don't you go ahead and stay in the truck while I do this?" he said, somewhat concerned for the girl's health. It wouldn't do to have her simply standing out here, shivering and cold, when there wasn't much she could contribute anyway.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I feel bad that you're getting all wet."

"Yes, I'm fine," he reassured her. "There's no sense in both of us suffering. Besides, I'll need you to try turning on the engine when I say so."

Edward poked and prodded around in the engine for a few minutes. Three times, he had the girl attempt to start the engine, and three times, it failed. He was beginning to give up hope when he caught sight of a loose belt. He tightened it and gave the girl the signal to try the engine again. The loud roar that greeted his ears was a welcome relief. He could finally be on his way.

As he shut the hood, the rain finally let up and he rolled his eyes. Typical. He heard the cab door open and shut and before he knew what happened there was a loud squeal and the girl launched herself into his arms.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she whispered in his ear. "I would have never been able to afford a tow-truck, let alone the auto shop. Thank you so much for being so kind!"

"Um, it was no problem," Edward responded, awkwardly patting her on the back. He was torn between discomfort at her enthusiastic response and amusement. Though he wouldn't admit it, he might have even enjoyed the affection, just a little.

The girl seemed to realize that she had just flung herself into the arms of a complete stranger and pulled back. Just as she released Edward, the sunlight finally broke through the Washington trees and his breath caught in his throat as he truly saw her for the first time.

_Fuck_, he thought. This girl was definitely going to be a distraction.

_**. . . . . .**_

**Bella**

Bella couldn't stop grinning as she disentangled herself from the kind man who'd saved her from a dismal morning. She had thought one of the last ties to her father was done for as she had sat stranded on the side of the road, and she couldn't even begin to think about how much it would have cost her.

She would need to talk to Dr. Cullen about possibly getting a replacement car if he insisted on meeting with her in person every time she heard from his son. She wasn't sure the old truck was capable of making the drive between Seattle and Forks again, no matter how much her boss willed it.

Bella glanced up at the stranger to thank him again before she drove the rest of the distance to Dr. Cullen's house but felt a gasp fall from her lips as she saw his face for the first time.

It was Carlisle Cullen's son, Edward — Bella was sure of it.

She closed her gaping mouth, thankful that Edward seemed to be dealing with his own minor disturbance. She wondered a bit at what was causing him to look simultaneously both pained and pleased. He seemed to be having some sort of internal debate right in front of her, and she heard him mutter softly, "_No distractions_."

The possibility of Edward leaving spurred Bella's mind forward. She needed to get him to talk to her, to trust her, so that she could report back to Dr. Cullen as much information as she could gather. Bella knew, of course, that she would have to play it safe. Under no circumstances could she tell Edward that she knew who he was; it had done nothing save abruptly end their conversation the day before.

"I'm Edward," the young man blurted before Bella had a chance. He was cringing slightly as he held his hand out to her.

"I'm—" she stopped just short of saying her name. _"Bye, Bella,"_ he had said yesterday on the phone. While Bella wasn't necessarily an uncommon name, it was surely too much a coincidence to let pass. "I'm Marie," she told him instead, deciding that giving her middle name wasn't _really_ a lie.

She shook his hand and released it quickly, sure that he would feel her rapid pulse if she held it too long. Bella was not a skilled actress, and she hoped her flushed cheeks were not a dead giveaway.

"So…" Edward said, clearly searching for a topic to discuss as Bella tried to come up with a plan of action. "Do you live in town or are you just passing through?"

"I, uh, used to live in Forks but just moved up to Seattle," she answered carefully. "I was coming back down to speak with my boss."

"Oh."

"And you?" she asked, happy he had opened with this line of questioning (even if it was just filler); she could prod him without making him suspicious.

"I'm here on business as well," Edward said. "And as it so happens, I also live in Seattle."

"Really?" Bella's eyes widened and a smile spread over her face. This was working out well. She now had all of two things to tell Dr. Cullen.

Edward seemed pleased and encouraged by her reaction. "Yeah," he said, grinning back at her in full force.

They stood there in the street, smiling at each other like goofy teens. It was the first time since their meeting that Bella recognized the twenty-two year old Edward was supposed to be. He had looked so much older.

An angry blare snapped Bella from her musings, and she barely had a second to realize the situation before she was yanked out of the way. She glanced quickly at Edward, who was following the passing car with a menacing stare, and was again very aware of the pounding in her veins. She pulled her hand from Edward's much more forcefully than was warranted and took a step backwards.

Edward looked down at his empty hand and frowned. "Right, I guess I should be going," he said. He didn't waste any time in turning toward his car, and Bella panicked.

"Wait!" she practically screamed.

"Yes?" Edward said, immediately turning back to her.

"Um, do you want to go somewhere and…?" Bella was going to say 'talk' but that seemed a bit too presumptuous for a first meeting. She felt like a gaping fish as she scrambled for something else to say.

"…and?" he prompted after a couple moments. The way his eyes sparkled told Bella he was enjoying her discomfort far too much.

"Get some coffee?" she sputtered, for lack of a better alternative.

Edward seemed thoroughly amused. "Coffee?" he asked, a disbelieving quality to his voice.

"Yeah, coffee. Like, we could go somewhere and drink coffee. I think it might make us feel good. I mean, when I drink coffee I feel warm and kind of whole. Like everything is right with the world. I like it with a little bit of sugar and a lot a bit of cream," Bella rambled awkwardly. To be honest, coffee was starting to sound really good right about now. When Edward continued to stare at her, she added, "On me."

"You mean… _coffee_?" The smirk swiftly fell from his face.

Bella smiled sympathetically at Edward. He seemed to be having a difficult time relating to her, and she wondered if he got asked to go many places. From what Dr. Cullen had told her, Edward had been on his own for quite some time. It must have been lonely for him, without anyone to turn to.

"Yes, coffee," she repeated. She smiled more surely, hoping to ease his reservations. "So would you like to… come?"

"Come?" Edward muttered darkly, frowning deeply at this point.

"When I have a cup of coffee it makes me tingle from my head to the tips of my toes," Bella pushed on determinedly. She'd get him to have a cup of coffee with her if it was the last thing she did. "And seeing as we're all wet, it might be nice to get warm."

Edward didn't respond, choosing instead to glare at her. Bella took a deep breath. She could understand being shy, but now he was being blatantly rude. She wondered briefly if he had some sort of bipolar disorder, and then reminded herself that it didn't matter. This was her job. She needed to get closer to him.

"If you don't want to go inside somewhere, we can even just do it in the cab of my truck. There's a—"

"Really, that's enough!" Edward cut her off. He mumbled something about, "typical," and, "my fault… getting distracted," before turning his glare back on her. "Don't you have any self-respect?"

"Oh, my God, what do you have against coffee?" Bella snapped, beyond insulted.

Edward rolled his eyes. "You don't have to keep calling it coffee. I get what you're saying and my answer is no."

Bella was stricken by the venom in his tone. "What the hell is your problem? I'm just trying to offer you something since you helped me out of a jam, and—"

"Look, lady, you don't have to offer yourself up for 'coffee' just because I fixed your truck. I didn't do it for that. And anyway, I'm not the kind of guy to have sex with random girls," he said, irritation present in every facet of his body.

"Sex?" Bella gaped at him. "I wasn't propositioning you! I was asking you out for a cup of coffee!"

"'It makes me tingle from my head to the tips of my toes?'" Edward quoted sarcastically. "Yeah, that doesn't sound like any cup of coffee I've ever had."

"It's _caffeine_. It makes me lightheaded. I like the feeling!"

"We can do it in the cab of your truck?" he shot back.

"They put a drive-through Starbucks in Forks. It was the talk of the town for months," Bella replied, crossing her arms defensively. This guy was seriously screwed up in the head if he had managed to somehow transform an innocent offer for coffee into a sexual suggestion.

"'A little bit of sugar and a lot a bit of cream?'" Edward said, but Bella could tell he was losing steam.

"Shockingly, I don't like my coffee to taste bitter."

Edward didn't respond for several moments. He didn't even seem capable of looking Bella properly in the eye. Finally he took a deep breath and let his shoulders sag. "I'm so sorry," he began, still not meeting Bella's eye and massaging his temple as if to rid himself of a headache. "I'm obviously a little fucked up at the moment. My head's all over the place and my life is just…" he left the sentence open.

For the first time that morning, Edward let his guard down, and Bella could see complete exhaustion and vulnerability in his features. Worry wrinkles had settled into his forehead, and the bruising under his eyes was not from a physical altercation. The maturity she had noticed from the start was one thing, but this gaunt, defeated man before her was quite another.

Bella felt her anger melt away, something that didn't happen often what with her stubbornness. Getting to know Edward was her job, but she found herself hoping she could help him heal, as well. He seemed to need a friend.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Bella asked carefully. "We could go get—"

"A cup of coffee?" Edward interrupted her, that crooked grin reappearing on his lips.

Bella laughed and rolled her eyes. "No, I'm pretty positive I'm never going to drink coffee again. Thank you very much for that."

"Hopefully I haven't ruined sugar and cream for you as well."

"No one could ever ruin sugar for me. As for cream, well, I guess we'll just have to see."

"Perhaps, then, I could take you out to breakfast to make up for it?" Edward asked, seemingly holding his breath as he waited for her reply.

Bella bit her lip as she stared thoughtfully up at her new acquaintance. There was something suspicious about Edward that she couldn't quite put her finger on, a secret she could see lying just behind the surface of his eyes, and yet she also saw something akin to a lost little boy.

Bella smiled and nodded, laughing just a little as Edward exhaled noisily. "I can do breakfast," she said.

The smirk returned as Edward said, "Lead the way."

**0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0**

**m81170 is the ridiculously talented author of the wildly popular The Introduction to Swirl and Daisy. She can make you fall in love and paint a beautiful picture to admire while you enjoy your new feelings. Please check out her link on the profile page. Thank you so much for reading. Next up is the delicious dandyvamp! ~MTK**


	6. A Bump in the Road by wisdomous

**The Load Chapter 6: A Bump in the Road by wisdomous**

**.**

**.**

Bella pulled into the parking lot of the newest diner in town, cleverly named _The Forks Diner_. Her fingers strummed nervously on the steering wheel as she battled with herself over how to go about this breakfast with Edward.

She had an undeniable physical attraction to him, that was for sure, but she couldn't let that become a distraction. The last thing she needed was to get starry-eyed over him and have it get in the way of her mission. No, she needed to nix those feelings right in the ass. Bella felt sick that she couldn't be entirely truthful to Edward. She felt a connection between them, however faint, but unmistakably there. But at the end of the day she's doing what she's getting paid to do. She needed to do this for Alice. She _would_ do this for Alice.

The sound of tires crunching over the gravel lot signaled her to Edward's arrival as his car pulled up next to hers. She muttered quietly to herself, "Even if it were under different circumstances, a guy like Edward would never go for a girl like me anyway." With a defeated shrug of her shoulders she heaved open the creaky door. Before she could blink, Edward was there ready to assist her out of her big, rusty, heap of a truck

He'd walked over to Bella's door in an effort to be chivalrous and help her down from her seat. As he approached he heard babbling coming from the other side of the window-glass. He caught her by surprise for the second time as he tapped on her window alerting her to his presence. Bella gasped and clutched her hand to her throat exclaiming, "Dammit, Edward, you have _got_ to stop _doing_ that."

Chuckling, he opened her door and held out his hand for her to take as she descended from her seat. She looked at it warily, unsure of his intention before he spoke up, "I'm trying to be nice. Just take my hand...please."

She reluctantly accepted his offer and managed to step down without incident. "After you, Marie." Edward gestured toward the restaurant and noticed a look of consternation on Bella's face as her brow furrowed, before smiling softly and biting her bottom lip.

The diner wasn't terribly busy; a few other patrons were sprinkled throughout the restaurant. A table of giggling younger teenage girls gawked at Edward as he sat down across from Bella. He heard them whispering back and forth with one another. He shot them a glance and scowled, shaking his head as if to say "not in a million years".

Shelly, a matronly-type woman with her hair pulled back in a frizzy, gray bun, introduced herself as their waitress. She wore the quintessential diner uniform - light blue dress, white collar, white shoes with a white apron to match - and a warm smile. She handed them menus and gave a brief explanation of today's specials.

Edward couldn't help but chuckle softly when Shelly offered them both a nice hot cup of coffee, both of them answering in the affirmative. He looked up to see Bella stifling a laugh of her own and he noticed the light reflecting in her deep brown eyes.

Bella gazed out of the window, spotting a marquis in the parking lot with _The Forks Diner_ flashing proudly in neon lights. She snorted quietly to herself and Edward immediately became curious about the thoughts swirling in her mind.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really. I was just thinking how _original_ the name of this place is. _The Forks Diner. _Really? That's the best they could come up with?" She asked, giggling.

The sound of Bella's laughter danced in Edward's ears and for the first time in a long while, he felt completely at ease. There were no nagging thoughts in the back of his mind relating to his family, or the final job he had to complete for Aro. He was simply in the moment, enjoying breakfast with a friend.

"You got a better name for it?" Edward challenged as he smiled across the table at the beautiful girl sitting across from him.

"I don't know, _The Burly Logger_." Bella exclaimed with a flourish of her wrist.

"You can't be serious," he quipped.

"Okay, so I can't think of anything either. I guess I'm as unoriginal and dull as the rest of them."

"I highly doubt that, Marie." The words fell quietly from Edward's lips, almost as if he didn't mean to say them out loud. Had it been any louder in the diner, Bella might not have heard him.

Edward took a moment to look at the beautiful girl sitting across from him. She wasn't obviously pretty, but when he paused and really paid attention he was blown away by her simplistic beauty. She didn't have fake nails, or fake tits. She didn't hide behind a veil of makeup or tease her hair in an artificial attempt to be attractive. She simply was.

"This place any good?" Edward asked breaking Bella from her thoughts as he noticed her gazing out of the window once again.

"This is my first time here, actually. It opened up about a year ago, maybe? My dad always took us to _The Lodge_, which was the only decent place in town to eat for a long time. I would have taken you there, but..." Bella's voice broke off and her eyes closed. The grief was still very much present within her heart, even though she did her best to hide it. Unfortunately for Bella, she didn't hide it very well. Edward immediately noticed her sadness and his mind worked overtime trying to figure out the source of her pain.

"...But I wanted to give this place a shot," Bella finally concluded. Edward had a feeling that she was about to say something completely different, but he wasn't about to press the issue.

Thankfully for Bella, Shelly arrived with their coffee and asked to take their order, effectively distracting her from whatever thoughts were plaguing her.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Edward watched Bella with an amused grin on his face as he watched her eyebrows furrow together as she crafted her coffee until it was _just_ right. She systematically added sugar to the mug before stirring, tasting, adding creamer, stirring and tasting again before taking a long, satisfying sip.

He was quickly becoming fond of this girl with whom he'd had a chance encounter today. He wondered what would've happened if her car hadn't broken down, or if he didn't stop to help her. Would he have missed this one opportunity to get to know her, or would their paths have crossed further down the line?

The two of them sat, sipping their coffees while Edward tried to engage the young lady in conversation.

"So...uh, you just moved to Seattle recently?" Edward stammered, not quite sure how best to break into a conversation. He so rarely put himself into situations where he shared information openly with another person.

"Yes, actually. Very recently. I, um, just started a new job this week, and I relocated with my younger sister."

"Is it just you two?" Edward was curious about where her parents were. She looked barely old enough to care for herself, let alone a younger sibling.

"Um, sort of." Right away Edward recognized the same sadness laced in her voice as before. "My mom isn't really around anymore. She just kind of took off after my dad died." Her voice got quiet at the mention of her father, but her features hardened as she spoke of her mother. "Renee just wasn't cut out to be a mom, I guess. So yeah, it's just me and Ali."

He could tell that there was more to that story than she'd let on. _Renee. _The name was familiar to him, but though he tried, he couldn't place where or when he'd heard it before.

Edward was quiet for a moment. He didn't want to push her, or make her uncomfortable, but her voice was a soothing balm that quieted his chaos and he'd do whatever he could to keep her talking.

So Edward asked her about her future plans and if she wanted to go to college. Bella explained that though she would very much like to go to school, her priority right now was her sister. She needed to focus on working as much as possible so that her sister wouldn't be taken from her. She'd lost the rest of her family, and she'd die before being stripped of Alice as well.

Edward was stunned at how selfless she was, putting off her dreams in order to care for her sister. That was a job her mother should be doing. He thought about Jasper and knew in his gut that he'd do the same thing for him if, God forbid, something ever happened to Esme.

In a way, he was doing that now. Edward put most of his earnings away in savings account in Jasper's name just in case anything were to ever happen to him.

Desperate to get the spotlight off of herself, Bella turned the tables and began her own line of questioning.

"What about you Edward? What do you do in Seattle?" She hoped that he'd open up to her and tell her... anything... so she'd have some more information for Dr. Cullen.

Edward wondered how best to describe what he does, without giving away too much. "I mostly just work doing odd jobs here and there. I sometimes run errands, make phone calls or do research or scouting for my employer."

"So you're like a personal assistant?" Bella was fishing for as much information as she possibly could.

"I guess that's a good of a description as any. It pays very well, but it's starting to get really old. I'm tired of being an errand boy, you know? Truth is, I just told Aro, er, my boss that I want out. I'm in Forks doing some _research_ for him right now. This is my last job, though." Edward hadn't meant to say Aro's name, that could turn out to be a dangerous slip of the tongue, but it was too late now. He could only hope that she would easily forget that piece of information.

"So if this is your last job, what do you plan to do next?"

Edward shrugged. "I don't know, maybe travel for a bit. I could use a change of scenery. I think next fall I'd kind of like to go to college. We'll see what happens."

"That's very admirable, Edward. Your parents must be really proud. Are you close with them?" She could see pain flash across his face and she instantly regretting bring up the subject, but she was desperate to know why he'd keep himself away from his family for all this time. Bella's family was taken from her, she had no choice in the matter. But Edward was choosing not to go home. She needed to know why.

"I, uh, don't see much of my family these days to be honest." Edward really didn't want to talk about this with her, or with anyone for that matter, but she'd opened up to him. The least he could do was reciprocate with his own story, even if it was an edited version.

"We kind of had a falling out, I guess you could say. I try to keep in contact with my younger brother, but even then I rarely get to speak with him. It's better that way anyway. I'm not the best role model for him right now."

"It's never too late to change that, Edward."

He nodded in agreement and puffed out his cheeks, not sure what else to say.

Moments later Shelly arrived at the table with their breakfast. They sat in relative silence, digesting not only their food, but also the fact that both shared so much of themselves, something neither of them really intended to do.

Edward watched Bella again in fascination as she methodically prepared her breakfast. Similar to how she prepared her coffee, she systematically cut up her pancakes, dipping each individual bite into the syrup before popping it into her mouth.

She felt self-conscious as she caught Edward gazing at her mouth.

"What?" She asked when he wouldn't stop staring, and she moved her tongue across her lips making sure there wasn't any food hanging from her face.

"Huh?" Was his eloquent response, but he stopped staring at her mouth and looked up into her cautious brown eyes. "Oh, nothing. It's nothing. I was just noticing how you eat your pancakes. I've never seen anyone dip them in the syrup before."

"I don't like to pour the syrup on. The last few bites are always too soggy. I hate that."

Edward chuckled saying "Fair point," and started shoveling in his blueberry waffle.

Edward sat for a moment, contemplating how at ease he felt sitting across the table from Bella. He couldn't remember the last time he sat so comfortably with another human being, whether in silence or in conversation. He wondered if Bella would be someone he'd eventually call a friend.

Not wanting to lose the connection they have, after Bella finally declared that she was running late for a meeting with her boss, Edward asked for her phone number. Bella hesitantly gave it to him, not sure if this act would come back to bite her in the ass. He programmed it into his phone under 'Marie'.

Edward watched as Bella drove away. A strange, but not unwelcome, feeling radiated throughout his body as he thought back on the last ninety minutes with Bella. For the first time in a long while he felt optimistic.

**0o0o0o0o0**

When Bella pulled up to Carlisle's house, she was excited, nervous, and anxious to give him the information she learned about Edward. There was a part of her, a bigger part than she'd care to admit, that wanted to keep the information to herself, but that wasn't what she was getting paid to do.

Knocking on the front door, she couldn't shake the feeling that she would be betraying Edward's trust by divulging his personal information to Carlisle, even if he is Edward's father.

_Alice, _Bella thought, _I have to do this for Alice. _That had become her personal mantra ever since Bella became responsible for her little sister.

"Bella," Carlisle's voice was warm and welcoming and instantly calmed the butterflies fluttering inside her. "So very nice to see you again. You're looking well."

_If only he knew how I really felt, _she thought. "Thank you, sir. It's a pleasure to see you again as well."

"How are the accommodations for you and Alice?"

"The house is incredible, Dr. Cullen. So much more than I was expecting. Really, it's too much. We can't thank you enough for _everything_."

"Excellent, excellent. And please, call me Carlisle," he said with a smile. He led Bella into the living room and she took the same seat as she had days before when Carlisle offered her the job.

"How was your drive down today?"

"Actually, to be perfectly honest, I need to talk to you about my truck. It broke down today. I was lucky that someone came along and was nice enough to get it running again, but I'm not sure how often I'll be able to keep driving down here to meet with you. I don't exactly have the money to get it fixed right now."

There was shame in Bella's tone and the sound ripped Carlisle's heart. His features scowled in disdain. _It's not you who should be burdened with shame, Isabella, _he thought, _that burden lies with your mother._

"Yes, that is a serious problem. I'm so sorry you had car trouble today. Do you think you'll be able to get back to Seattle this evening?"

"Yes, I think so."

"I'll get in touch with Emmett. He'll make sure to get a suitable replacement vehicle to you tomorrow. That should solve that problem."

"I'm not asking for a new car, Dr. Cullen," Bella was taken aback by the offer. "I could never ask you for that. I was just hoping to maybe get it checked out by a mechanic. That's all."

"I know that, Bella. But please forgive me for wanting to ensure that my dear friend's children are safe when he no longer can." He didn't want to bring up the subject of Charlie, but somehow he knew this was the only way to quiet her protests. Bella was a very proud individual, just like her father. "How do you think your dad would've felt if he knew you were stranded on the side of road today, reliant on a stranger to help you out?"

Bella let out a sad chuckle, "Yeah, that would've gone over like a lead balloon."

"Please let me help you with this. You have no idea how priceless the job you're doing for me truly is." Sincerity coated every word when he spoke, and Bella nodded in acquiescence.

"Please forgive my impatience, Bella, but have you been able to procure any information?"

"I do have some news for you." Bella paused for a moment, trying to figure out the best place to begin. "Erm, well, Alice and I went to McDonald's for dinner the other night, and we uh, sort of ran into Jasper. He was very... _friendly..._ with Alice." Bella couldn't contain her giggle thinking back to the way Jasper kissed her sister's knuckles in greeting. "I'll just say, I don't think it will be a problem for her to get to know him... they really hit it off."

Carlisle's face lifted into a broad smile at that news.

"Wonderful. Any news of Edward?"

Bella nodded slowly and Carlisle's eyebrows raised in anticipation.

"You were right in assuming he'd try to get in touch with Jasper. Within minutes of my arriving at Esme's, the phone rang. It was Edward calling for Jasper. He wouldn't tell me who it was, but I could just tell it was him. Esme walked in while we were talking and he didn't want her to know who it was. I told her it was a telemarketer." Bella hung her head in shame as she admitted lying to her new employer.

"He's alive," he whispered. "Anything else?" Carlisle continued, unconcerned with the fib. After all, he did hire her to get information and he wouldn't judge her on how she came about it.

Where did Bella even begin to tell Carlisle that she'd just spent the past couple of hours in Edward's presence?

"Umm... so I told you how my car broke down? Well, Edward was the helpful stranger who stopped to help me. I didn't recognize him at first, it was so rainy. It wasn't until after he'd finished taking a look at my truck that he introduced himself and I really got a look at him."

Bella went on to tell him about their encounter, leaving out the bit about the whole coffee incident. She told him about the fake name she gave him and everything. To say that Carlisle looked stunned would be an understatement. They sat in silence for several minutes while he processed this information.

"Edward spoke briefly about his job. Working for a man named... Aro, I think he said? But it didn't sound like he's too happy with it anymore. He said he told his boss that he wanted to quit. He'd like to start college in the fall semester-" Bella stopped talking when she noticed Carlisle's reaction.

His face had paled and his normally handsome features contorted into a look of panic as he stood up and paced back-and-forth across the room. His usual calm, cool, collected demeanor had been replaced by fear and anxiety. His worst fears had come true. It was confirmed that Aro had his hooks in Edward, and it would be nearly impossible to free him unscathed.

"Carlisle?" Bella asked, "Is everything okay? I figured you'd be happy to learn that Edward wanted to go to college." Confusion was written all over Bella's face. She simply couldn't understand what it was she said that would make Carlisle react this way.

She watched as he rubbed at his temples, attempting to soothe the sudden headache that plagued him.

"Bella," he paused, "this information stays strictly between you and me, do you understand me?" His voice was burning, and desperate. Bella nodded her head furiously, as Carlisle took hold of her by the arms and looked hard into her eyes.

"Edward doesn't have the kind of job where you just turn in your two weeks notice to Human Resources. I know Edward's _employer_." The word slipped from his mouth as if it had a sour taste. "You see...Edward works for the mob. And I can't imagine he'll just be allowed to walk away without serious repercussions."

Bella sat for several minutes in stunned silence until her brain started working in overdrive.

"The _mob_?" Bits and pieces of Bella's conversation with Edward were beginning to fall into place. "We have to help him, Carlisle. What can we do? _What can I do?_"

"You've done very well already, dear. I can't thank you enough for agreeing to work with me. I haven't had any news of my eldest son in quite some time." His voice was strained with emotion.

"I'm sorry to say that Aro was once a dear friend of mine. We had a falling out many years ago and took very different paths in life. I'm afraid he's been using Edward as a pawn to hurt me." The sadness in his voice was palpable as Bella listened with rapt attention. "You see, a long time ago, Aro was in love with Esme. I venture to guess that he still is. However, she never felt the same toward him. Once he found that she had fallen for his best friend and that we were lovers, I'm afraid he just snapped. He's never been the same since."

"Esme and I split up when the boys were both very young, in the hope of protecting our family. Unfortunately, It didn't pan out like we had hoped." Carlisle no longer looked like the handsome man that Bella had come to know. He looked broken and defeated, and it pained her to hear of his heartache.

"The best thing you can do for Edward is to keep me informed of anything you hear from him."

Bella nodded her head in acknowledgment, still shocked by this revelation.

Needing to get on the road to get home to Alice, Bella said her goodbyes to Carlisle, promising to keep him up to date on any information from Edward. Though she knew that Alice will get home long before her, Bella needed to make sure she had plenty of time to prepare dinner. Even if that dinner preparation meant ordering a pizza.

Bella hopped in her truck, and as it rumbled to life and vibrated beneath her, she realized just how much she would miss it. Charlie bought it for her after all, and this would feel like saying goodbye to him all over again. But she needed to move forward with her life, and hanging on to that hunk of metal just didn't make sense anymore.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Edward had sat in his car, lost in thoughts of Bella. He would've sat there all afternoon if the sound of laughter hadn't finally snapped him out of his trance as the group of teenage girls walked out of the diner.

Edward glanced at the passenger seat and noticed the file folder that Aro had given to him. The light and airy feeling quickly dissipated as he thought about the job at hand.

Thumbing through the photographs, an uneasy feeling washed over him. He'd stolen these jewels before, he'd recognize the antique sapphire and diamond heirloom necklace anywhere. It was probably the most complicated lift he'd ever made for Aro, and to be honest he wasn't thrilled about having to do it again.

He wasn't sure how the good Dr. Cullen was tied to this necklace, but that's what he needed to find out.

Edward went to grab a cigarette from his coat pocket when he noticed his pack was empty. Cursing his bad luck, he started the car and headed for the nearest gas station. Once his nicotine craving was sated, he started off toward the address that was in the information packet.

As he drove, Edward allowed his mind to drift back to the beautiful brunette he'd met hours earlier. He was beginning to think that fate had caused her clunky old truck to break down and place Bella in his path.

As he pulled into Carlisle's driveway, he spotted the very same truck that just occupied his thoughts. Confusion started to cloud his brain as he wondered what the fuck Bella could possibly be doing there.

Her words about how she was running late for a meeting with her boss rang through Edward's ears. His mouth went dry and his breathing stilted as he voiced the only thing that made sense.

"Holy shit. Marie works for Carlisle?"

Edward was paralyzed trying to figure out what he should do next, before throwing his car in reverse and backing down the driveway out of sight. He needed answers and he decided right then that he was going to get them.

He didn't have to wait long before he heard the roar of her engine, signaling she was about to leave.

He stood out in front of his car, his face seething with rage. Bella slammed on the breaks when she saw him standing there, her hand jumping to her throat surprise. She quickly emerged from her truck, wondering why the hell Edward was standing there.

"Edward, what are you doing here? Did you follow me?"

"I'm working," he said harshly. "I think a better question is what the fuck are _you_ doing here, Marie?" His tone was far from the friendly one she'd come to know in the short time they were together. He was furious, but she didn't know why.

Bella made a decision then and there. She inhaled a deep breath and took a leap of faith.

"My name isn't Marie, well my middle name is Marie, but my real name is... Bella." She let out a deep breath as she waited for his reaction.

"Bella?" He asked, very obviously confused and trying to make sense of it all. "As in the girl who answered my mother's phone the other day, Bella?"

She nodded meekly.

Edward couldn't believe it. He'd been hoodwinked by this fucking girl. All of his former thoughts about how he felt he could trust this woman were thrown out of the proverbial window.

"What sort of game are you playing at, huh? Do you work for Aro? What the fuck is going on here?" He couldn't make sense of any of it.

"Why don't you come inside? I really think you should talk with Dr. Cullen... he wants to help you."

"And why the fuck would he want to help me? I don't even know him!"

"Edward, Dr. Cullen, Carlisle, is your father."

.

.

**AN: Thank you to dandyvamp for your help and inspiration, and for trusting me with your chapter. I hope I did you proud, sweetie. **

**From The Load: Wisdomous is a gorgeous, active member of the Twilight Fandom and we were so lucky to have her step up and write this wonderful chapter. Please find the link to her profile in ours and explore her other work, like **Rub My Ass and Call Me Bella


	7. Overreacting By HunterHunting

**Chapter 7: Overreacting Can be Detrimental to the Welfare of One's Jeans by Hunterhunting**

**~*~Edward~*~**

Edward could feel every atom in his body, every neuron misfiring, and every cell burning with a rage so intense he wanted to pulverize someone or something. Aro had used this _girl_ to try manipulate him and he would be damned if he let that happen.

As the anger set in and radiated through his body, panic crashed over him in a wave. He had no idea how much the girl in front of him knew beyond what he had told her in the diner. Despite how innocent she looked she could damn well be one of Aro's many decoys. His boss was good at finding people to do his dirty work that would go unsuspected; Edward was a case in point. Bella could definitely fit into that category as well.

As his fear and his fury twined together, they created a tornado of emotion inside him that refused to remain contained. Unfortunately for Bella, his anger had no direction to go but toward her. He sucked in a ragged breath. His eyes shifted to the house that was completely obscured by the winding drive and the path of trees lining it. Beyond the line of trees was a drop-off about twenty feet down.

"Edward, if we just go inside . . ."

He didn't say a word as he grabbed her arm, wrapping his fingers around her bicep before he dragged her toward her truck.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice thin and reedy as she struggled in his hold.

He let go of her to yank open her driver's side door and put the truck into gear. He reefed on the wheel until the vehicle was pointed directly toward a break in the trees before he released it, allowing the truck to roll forward.

"Edward!" Bella exclaimed.

He was sure on some level she must know what his intention was. He wrapped one arm around her waist and clamped his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming or trying to run. The last thing he needed was any interference from Carlisle.

He watched with perverse pleasure as the beast of a truck plowed through the underbrush and the mowed over the small trees in its path, driving over the embankment and into the valley below with a satisfying crash. It would be impossible to see the truck at night, and as it was approaching late afternoon, Edward felt fairly confident that no one would notice the vehicle until he and Bella were long gone.

She struggled against him, flailing wildly as he dragged her away from the crest of the embankment toward his car. He could feel her mouth parting in a muffled scream against his palm, her hot breath moistening his skin as he opened the driver's side door and manhandled her into the passenger seat. He was too blinded by anger and seething with rage to care if he was hurting her, something that he would later come to regret.

But in that moment, there was no way he was going to give her a chance to escape, not until she told him what she knew and what Aro's plans were.

"Where are you taking me?" Bella asked, her voice a wavering whisper as her eyes grew wide with an emotion Edward was very familiar with: fear.

"We're going for a ride," he muttered darkly as he slammed his fist down on the lock and buckled her into her seat.

He sat back and shifted the car into gear, pulling away from the gravel edge before gunning the engine. He could see Bella gripping at her seat belt with one hand the fingers of the other at her throat, her terror a nearly tangible presence in the vehicle.

"I don't think . . ." She whimpered, her voice tinny and pained as she took in a shuddering breath, unable or too afraid to continue.

Edward tried to ignore the fact that it sounded like she was about to start crying and focused on what he needed to know. "Why did Aro hire you?" he spat out, his fingers gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"I don't know who Aro is," Bella whispered, shaking her head furiously, her mane of hair whipping around her face.

"The hell you don't," Edward gave her a sideways glance. He knew he needed to pull over somewhere to interrogate her properly. Reading her facial expressions and body language was critical in this situation.

"I know it's difficult to understand," she murmured quietly. "If you would just let me explain . . . "

Edward slammed on the brakes, making a hard right onto a dirt road. His GPS wasn't picking it up, which likely meant it was a hunting trail of some kind. He killed the engine, watching as her hand went to the door handle. He threw the car into park and was out of his seat, on top of her like a lightning strike.

"Don't even fucking think about it, _Bella_, you can't outrun me," he hissed viciously, his face inches from hers, his body hovering over her, pinning her to the seat.

"Puh-please . . . if we just g-go back, Carlisle, your f-father will tell you . . ." She stammered, her terrified sob cutting off the rest of the words.

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" he screamed, "No more fucking mind games, no more of this shit, you _will_ tell me what I want to know or so help me God . . ." His eyes were black with murderous rage as he slammed his fist into the back of her head rest.

Bella shrank into the seat beneath him, turning her head away from his baleful glare and terrifying words. Her hands came up to protect her face, which was laughable, if Edward wanted to hurt her he certainly could. She was dwarfed by his size as he loomed over her, a menacing presence with the seething fury that emanated from his body in a wave, pouring out of him and over her.

A painful sob spasmed through her. "Please, _ohgodohgodohgod_, please don't kill me, please. I'm all Alice has. I have— I have— I have . . ." She sucked in short, stunted breaths.

Edward blinked furiously, her panic pushing through his veil of anger and touching the reasonable part of him. The part of him that was not overwhelmed and petrified of the thought of something happening to his family because of Aro or this girl, who was clearly terrified to the point of hyperventilating, surfaced.

He moved away from her, giving her space, "I'm not going to kill you," he told her, trying to get a handle on himself. The realization that he was acting like Aro, doing things that Aro would do in a situation like this incited his self-loathing. He was ashamed of himself for becoming what he so despised. "I just want you to tell me who you're working for and how you know Carlisle."

Bella continued to gasp and shudder, her entire body convulsing as she tried to get a grip on herself. She swallowed repeatedly, taking deeper, fuller breaths before she scrubbed her palms against her eyes.

"You drove my truck over a ledge." Bella's lower lip trembled as fresh tears started to well up and slide in thick streams down her cheeks.

"Fuck," Edward huffed in frustration at his inability to force her to talk. He could hardly argue with her. If Aro had driven his car over an embankment and forced him into his car, he would have assumed it was game over.

He sat back in his seat and his head bounced off the headrest. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he muttered angrily, slamming his fist into the dashboard, causing Bella to shriek and huddle further into her seat, covering her head with her hands.

Pulling the keys out of the ignition he wrenched the door open. After getting out, he slammed it closed. The urge to do it repeatedly only quelled by the knowledge that it would likely scare the piss out of Bella and she was already terrified enough. He screamed out his frustration in a slew of profanities, unable to get a handle on the emotional storm that was raging inside him.

He didn't know what to believe, had no idea whether this girl was just a pawn in a game she didn't know she was playing or an amazing actress. The notion that Carlisle Cullen could be his father made his stomach flip. As far as he knew, his father had taken off when he was a kid and never came back. His memories of him were vague and blurry at best. His mother kept no pictures of him in the house, and there was no evidence that he had ever been an integral part of their lives.

Nothing that was happening made sense. Although, if he could clear his mind and get the information he needed out of Bella he might get some perspective. He heard the sound ofher door opening and whirled around.

She raised her hands in supplication, her eyes wide and watery. "I-I . . ." She blinked, trying to find her tongue as she looked down at the ground. Edward could only imagine how he must have appeared to her in that moment; aggressive, violent, destructive. "Your seat," she said in a voice that barely registered as she motioned to the passenger side of the car.

Edward furrowed his brow, his eyes moving over her, taking her in. While he'd been focused on her face before in the diner he got a better look at the whole package now. She was dressed in old clothes, they were loose on her slight frame and as his eyes traveled down, past the coat that hung off her slumped shoulders to the worn jeans his eyes widened in understanding.

"I'm s-s-sorry," she apologized quickly, ducking her head as she brought her hands down and tried to pull her coat to cover the evidence of her apparent embarrassment and shame.

Edward had made her piss herself.

As the realization dawned on him, his own mortification wrapped around him and squeezed the breath out of his lungs. His shame overshadowed his anger, and he wondered just how disappointed his mother would be in him if she found out that he had done something like this — abducted a girl and took her out into the woods to interrogate her. He was becoming exactly what he was trying to escape.

Christ, his life was a mess.

He took a tentative step toward her, palms up, but she was skittish and she backed away from him, tripping over a root on the forest floor and falling on her ass.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said quietly, gently.

"I just wanted to help," she whispered.

She kept her head down and her eyes on the ground, her fingers pushing into the dirt, her arms shaking and knees trembling. Edward doubted she believed him at this point. She had no reason to, he was acting like a psychotic asshole, having destroyed her piece of shit truck and then driving her out to what he was sure she assumed was her imminent death. He could very well kill her if he wanted to; he had a gun. However he had never used it, unless target practice counted.

"I just wanted to make some money so my sister didn't end up in foster care. I thought . . . I don't know what I thought. I figured someone was offering me a way to get ahead so I took it," she rambled on, her voice rising, her words coming faster as panic took over. "I didn't think I'd end up getting myself involved with the mob."

"Wait a fucking minute," Edward barked. Bella jumped and scrambled away from him, startled by the tone and volume of his voice. "What exactly do you mean, you're involved with the mob?"

If she was working for Aro, he may very well have to take her hostage. The thought made bile rise in his throat, and his lip curled in disgust at the knowledge that Aro did that kind of thing without batting an eye. If there had ever been a doubt in his mind that he needed to get away from Aro, there certainly wasn't one now.

"Your fa . . . Carlisle told me that the man you work for, that Aro guy, he's in the mob, which means you work for the mob, which means you're probably going to torture me before you kill me and — oh my God, I had breakfast with you and I thought about kissing you and now I'm going to die," she sobbed uncontrollably, burying her face in her hands.

Edward blinked repeatedly as his jaw fell open and his mouth went dry. Well then, if that wasn't a very interesting revelation, he wasn't sure what was. The fact that Carlisle Cullen knew Aro was part of the mob and that he was aware, thanks to Bella, that Edward was also working for him was definitely going to be a problem. Also, Bella's revelation had taken him by surprise, because he had sure as hell thought about doing a lot more than just kissing her. Not that now was the time to admit such a thing. At this point he was pretty fucking sure any chance he had of getting anywhere with her was blown since he had technically kidnapped her.

As he watched her shiver and convulse with stilted sobs, he had the sinking feeling that she had no idea what she had gotten herself into. Whoever had lead her to Carlisle had definitely taken advantage of her based on her financial issues. And he was beginning to hate this Carlisle fucker. If what Bella was telling him was true, and the man was his father, he wouldn't mind stopping by his house to have a few choice words with him, some of which might or might not be spoken with his fist.

"Bella, I need you to calm down," he said in his softest, most persuasive tone.

Of course this caused her to become increasingly hysterical to the point that she was crying so hard she literally couldn't breathe. When Edward knelt in front of her she gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth again, her fingers smearing dirt over her cheeks. Her eyes were rimmed red, the whites bloodshot and her cheeks were blotchy.

"Look, I'm sorry about your truck, I really shouldn't have done that. Carlisle is right; I work for the mob, not because I want to but because I don't have a choice. The man I work for wouldn't think twice about putting a gun to my head and pulling the trigger if he thought I wasn't toeing the line." Edward paused and closed his eyes, unable to deal with the way she wrapped her arms around her body to make herself as small as possible, like he might do the same. "So you can see why I might get a little upset about the fact that the same girl who was in my mother's house, who I rescued this morning and had a personal conversation with is now also involved with a man my boss hates. _And_ who you're telling me is my father."

Bella nodded but didn't say anything; the only sound that came from her was a stuttering sniffle.

He gave her another minute to get herself back together, watching her the entire time. Her body language was defensive, posture rigid, her head still down as she shuddered occasionally.

"Tell me why you're working for Carlisle," Edward asked softly.

Bella sucked in a deep breath. "He-he wanted a housekeeper."

"A housekeeper?"

She nodded.

"How old are you?" He asked, thinking she was awfully young to be starting a career that was typically performed by women much older that she was.

Her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed into slits, a myriad of emotions passed over her face before she asked, "Why the hell does that matter?"

"Can you please, for the love of God, tell me what the hell you're doing working for Carlisle Cullen? And stop being so fucking evasive. You think I can't see it in your face, in the tilt of your goddamn head, or the way your eyes shift up and to the left? Why even bother lying to me?"

"He hired me to get information on your mother and brother," she replied in an emotionless voice. "And you. When I told him you called her house, he asked me to try and get information about you. He was relieved to know you were alive and beside himself when he found out who you were working for."

When Edward tried to cut her off she raised her hand and stopped him. "You want me to talk, I'm talking."

Stunned into silence by the sudden shift in her demeanor, he listened as Bella relayed the series of events: from selling her father's gun to a guy named Emmett, to meeting Carlisle, and then moving to Seattle to act as housekeeper for Esme and Jasper. Bella even told him about the relationship Carlisle and her father, Charlie, before he had been murdered.

"I had no idea who you were when you stopped to help me this afternoon. It was only afterward that I recognized you from a very old picture your father had of you and you'd been so nice . . . Clearly, I'm a pretty shitty judge of character," she muttered, trailing off at the end.

Edward rose to his feet, pacing between Bella and his car. "I don't believe this," he muttered.

Aro was a conniving son of a bitch, making Edward's last job one where he would be stealing from his own father. _If_ Carlisle was his father. It wasn't hard to see how Aro could manipulate him into doing such a thing. The only question now was why, and what the hell was he going to do with Bella in the meantime?

"I'm not lying."

"I know."

"Then why . . .?"

"I believe what you're saying — you're too terrified to lie, and when you do, it's painfully obvious," Edward sighed. "I'm trying to figure out who's playing what role in this game right now, and I don't have enough information yet to be able to figure it out."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

There was a long stretch of silence in which Bella sat on the ground and Edward paced the overgrown dirt road in front of his car. The temperature was starting to drop and light was beginning to fade. He needed to get back to his apartment and start planning his next move.

"Come on, you need to get home," Edward held out a hand to Bella. She looked up at him as if he had two heads.

"Uh, no, thanks. I'll walk from here."

"You'll walk to Seattle?" He raised an eyebrow at her, his expression one of incredulity.

"Yes."

"No, you won't. You'll get lost in the woods and either freeze to death or get eaten by a bear, or worse, some pervert will offer you a ride. Get in the car, Bella."

"Don't tell me what to do!" She shot up off the forest floor, getting right in his face. "You've destroyed the one last material thing I cared about, kidnapped me, interrogated me in the woods and made me pee my pants. You think I want to get in goddamn car with you? You have to be out of your motherfucking mind!"

Edward crossed his arms over his chest and surveyed her carefully. Her eyes were brimming with tears and her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe. While her words were a testament to her anger, the visible signs of distress made it clear that her bravado was just a front.

"Bella, I really need you to get back in the car. I don't think you fully understand what Aro is capable of," Edward replied, trying to reason with her without scaring her more than he already had. "At this point, he could very well have people trailing Carlisle in addition to me. Based on what you've just told me, it's highly likely and there is no way in hell that I can let you walk away from me right now, it's just too dangerous, not just for me, but for you as well."

Bella looked at the car, then at the overgrown path leading back to the road before returning her gaze to Edward. Her shoulders slumped further in defeat as her head lowered and she walked toward the car. The extent of her fear was evident; there was a giant dark spot on the back of her jeans that he was well aware, existed on the front as well.

Edward sighed heavily and went around to the trunk, knowing he would have a pair of sweats at the very least for her to wear. As soon as he popped the trunk, Bella turned and ran, sprinting headlong into the forest.

"For Christ's sake," Edward grunted, abandoning the car to chase after Bella. It didn't take him long to catch up to her. He tackled her to the ground as gently as he possibly could, caging her with his arms. Her scream was piercing and desperate as once again she struggled to get free.

"Bella, stop," Edward grunted into her ear.

"You can't!" She screamed, "you can't lock me in the trunk."

Edward rolled on top of her, trapping her legs between his and pinning her wrists to the ground in order to subdue her. "I was getting you a pair of sweats. I didn't think you'd want to spend the next three hours in wet jeans," he panted, holding himself above her.

He could feel every line of her body beneath him. She was fragile, warm, soft. Aside from the quick rise and fall of her chest as she took deep, gasping breaths, her body was utterly still.

"Oh."

Pushing up off the ground, Edward relieved her of his weight and held a hand out to help her up. She reached for it, tentative and trembling, not meeting his gaze.

"I can't believe you just tackled me," she muttered as she released his fingers, brushing dirt and leaves from her shirt.

"If you ran out into the forest, you'd get lost," he murmured, justifying his actions.

Bella nodded but didn't respond, choosing instead to focus on picking leaves out of her hair. Careful not to touch her, Edward led her back to the car and found a pair of gray sweatpants. Handing them over, he turned away as he rounded the car, giving her as much privacy as he could. She changed out of her wet jeans and into his sweats. Once she was dressed and in the car, he backed up and drove down the bumpy path, heading toward the main road.

The beginning of the trip back to Seattle was tense. After checking his phone to make sure Aro hadn't called while he was dealing with the seriously messed up situation he currently faced, he passed the phone to Bella.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Bella asked, an expression of shocked confusion on her face.

"You should call my mother, Esme. Let her know that you're alright and your car broke down. Someone needs to get you a damn cell phone," he muttered.

The call took less than two minutes. Bella was brief in her explanation, hesitating only when she lied about who was driving her home. The change in her tone was obvious when her sister was put on the line. She reassured Alice that everything was all right and that she would call when she got home.

"Esme asked that I call her when I get back to Seattle. My sister is already at her house," she stated the obvious. "Your mom offered to drive Alice home once I get there." Bella dropped the phone into the center console.

"That's good," Edward nodded, relieved that Bella's younger sister wasn't in the home alone. He wanted to check for bugs as soon as he got there.

Conversation on the way back to Seattle revolved around speculation. Edward tried to piece together the connection Aro had to his family with the little information he had gleaned from Bella. He knew she was completely overwhelmed, just as he was, but the more information he could get from her regarding her history and her connection to Carlisle, the easier it would be to get to the bottom of things. And to figure out exactly how deep down the rabbit hole they both were.

When they arrived in Bella's driveway, Edward cleared his throat, wondering how averse she was going to be regarding what he was going to say next.

"I'm going to come in and check your place for wires if you're cool with that," Edward phrased it as though he was asking for permission when in reality,he was going to do it regardless whether she acquiesced or not.

"Why?"

"Because if you're place is tapped, I want to know," he replied, killing the engine.

Bella stared at him for a moment before she sighed and nodded, looking rather defeated. He followed her to the front door and surveyed the area as he waited for her to find her keys and unlock the door. When he heard the key sliding into the lock he turned back to Bella, following her into the foyer.

The front entrance was decorated in true Esme Masen style, and despite the fact that Edward had had little to no contact with his mother for the past several years, it took him back to his childhood the second he stepped foot in the place. He missed her trademark details, the little knick knacks that she placed on the table in the hallway, the art she hung on the walls.

For the first time in years he felt like he was at home, and it scared the shit out of him.

"So uh . . ." Bella shrugged out of her jacket, frowning at it as she noticed the streaks of dirt on it, a result of Edward's tackling her to the forest floor.

"Shh," Edward whispered and put his fingers up to his lips, his eyes traveling of their own accord down her body.

While a large part of him was 'casing the joint' the other part of him— the horny, twenty-two year-old part that hadn't had any action in a damn long time, thanks to his morals and his lack of time to foster any kind of positive relationships — was casing Bella.

His sweats hung low on her hips, the thin, long-sleeved shirt she was wearing under the jacket clung to her like a very flimsy second skin. His dick liked her outfit a lot, so much so that it began to redirect the blood flow from his brain.

Bella looked down, following his gaze, giving him several more precious moments in which to catalog the parts of her body that he enjoyed looking at — which was all of her. Before she could question him, he began moving through the house, systematically checking the house for places where a mini-cam or bugs could be hidden. After twenty minutes, he had swept the house, Bella followed behind him the entire time, hissing at him in hushed tones not to touch this or that. Of course he ignored her, particularly when he rifled through her drawers.

When he was satisfied that her place hadn't been tapped, he gave her the go ahead to speak.

"I'm going to take a shower," she exhaled heavily.

"Yeah, alright."

"So you can go," she prompted when he continued to nod and stare at her. Edward's mind had immediately conjured up an image of her dropping his sweats and peeling off that shirt.

"Huh?"

"You can go, now that you've checked the house for bugs or cameras or whatever. You can leave, right?"

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"You don't think what's a good idea?"

"I think I should stay here for the night, just to make sure . . ." Edward trailed off, trying to come up with a valid reason not to go back to his apartment that wouldn't scare the living hell out of her.

"You think . . . ? I don't . . . You can't; my sister . . ." She stammered, her eyes darting from his face down to his shoes and back up again.

"Look, I know I make you nervous, but I think I'm a better option than some mob thug hanging around your house in the middle of the night."

Bella raised a brow at him.

"A real mob thug, Bella," Edward rolled his eyes.

"We'll talk about this when I'm done getting clean," Bella huffed and turned around, stalking up the stairs. She had to hike his sweats up twice on the way, they were so big on her. Edward was lucky enough to get a glimpse of the dimples above her ass in the process.

The slam of a door was followed by the sound of water falling. Edward wandered into the kitchen and checked the fridge. There wasn't a whole lot of food, but there sure was a lot of milk. He poured a glass and followed it up with a few cookies he found in one of the cupboards.

Once he finished his highly inadequate snack, he flopped down on the living room couch and sank into the comfortable cushions. He found the TV remote and flipped idly through the channels, settling on some ridiculous reality show to occupy his time until Bella came back downstairs. He leaned his head back, his eyes half closed as he tried not think about how she was naked and wet upstairs.

Minutes later she startled him when she whispered his name. He cranked his head in her direction, blinking steadily as his eyes raked over her. Black mahogany hair hung in dripping waves over her shoulders and she was wearing nothing but a towel; a soft, white towel that barely covered the top of her thighs. Edward's eyes focused there, willing her to pull it more tightly around her, or drop it altogether.

"I thought I heard something upstairs," she murmured, her eyes wide and terrified.

Edward shot up off the couch, reaching into the back of his jeans to make sure the firearm he had secured before leaving the car was still there.

"Shouldn't we call 9-1-1?" Bella whispered as he moved past her, toward the stairs.

He had checked the entire house. He was sure he had been thorough, but he certainly wasn't going to take any chances. "Stay here," he ordered as he ascended the stairs, pulling the gun out and checking the safety.

He rechecked all the rooms, finding no one. He turned and was about to leave what was clearly Bella's room when he heard a sound. He raised the gun and spun around, ready to pull the trigger.

Bella raised her hands, effectively releasing the towel from the confines of her hands. Edward watched as it slipped and slid in slow motion down her body, revealing pale skin and full, soft breasts, the peaks of which tightened as the cool air hit them. His eyes followed the descent of the towel, the narrow arrow of short brown curls drawing his gaze to the place he thought of being inside earlier that day.

"Edward!" Bella exclaimed. She said his name a second and third time before she stalked toward him and shoved his shoulder. Edward blinked and found himself looking up into the face of a very confused-looking Bella. Who was not naked.

He looked around the room, slowly becoming aware of the fact that he was not in her bedroom; he was still sitting on the couch. He shook his head. "I must have fallen asleep."

"Yeah, clearly, you were talking about showing me your sock monkey, whatever the hell that means." Bella straightened up.

Edward furrowed his brow. Looking at his lap, he realized that his "sock monkey" was trying to beat its way out of his pants. He was so hard. And horny. Stress tended to do that to him. He looked up at Bella, hoping like hell she wouldn't figure out the highly inappropriate reference to his dick, regardless of whether it was subconscious or not.

Once again he couldn't help but notice her attire. Bella was dressed for bed and while it wasn't a sexy negligee in the typical sense of the word, it certainly didn't leave much in the way of imagination. Bella was wearing skintight hot pink long johns and a long sleeved gray shirt. And she was not wearing a bra. There was no bra.

But there were nipples. Teasing him. Taunting him. Inviting him.

"My sister is going to stay at Esme's tonight. Apparently she and Jasper passed out on the couch this evening," Bella told him, either oblivious to his blatant ogling of her nipples or too preoccupied to be appropriately offended. "So I guess that means you can stay in her room. It's right across the hall from mine."

Edward had a feeling it was going to be a damn long night.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

**A/N Miss Hunterhunting is a little known author with big knockers. Wait, hunterhunting is a big known author with little knockers. No, still not right. Hunterhunting knows all about knockers... Never mind. You know who HH is, so do we, but the link to her profile is in The Load profile. She added Clipped Wings and Inked Armor and The Misapprehension of Bella Swan to the Fandom. Up next for Chapter 8 is ladauphine!**


	8. Things That Go Bump by theladyingrey42

**The Load, Chapter 8: Things That Go Bump In The Night by TheLadyInGrey42**

"Crap."

For what felt like the hundredth time, Bella turned over and rearranged her pillow beneath her head, punching it down before settling on her back, closing her eyes and searching for calm. But it wasn't any use. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't sleep.

It wasn't really a surprise, though. She had never been a terribly sound sleeper, and once her mind got to spinning, she was often hard-pressed to quiet it down again. And goodness knew she had enough things on her mind tonight.

Between the gorgeous (if temperamental) mob thug sleeping down the hall from her, the newness of her bedroom, the unclear intentions of her employer, the loss of her truck, and that godawful scratching sound coming from the window downstairs —

Bella sat up with a start, listening hard and trying to hear anything over the thundering of her heart. Met with crushing silence, she was just beginning to relax when she heard it again. Scratching.

And voices.

Bella's whole body shivered, and she felt a cold tickle of fear make its way up her spine, paralyzing her. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought to concentrate, knowing full well that this was not the time to panic. Her father's voice rose up in her head, telling her to keep her head on her shoulders and to just _think_. She wasn't a helpless girl after all. And she was damned if she was going to act like one.

Summoning up all of her courage, she unlocked her limbs and moved silently across the room to the box in the bottom of her closet. When she found the case that contained her father's gun, she thanked God again that she hadn't been forced to sell it after all. Her hands shook slightly as she loaded it, remembering the careful instructions her dad had given her.

What she would have given to have him there with her now.

After tucking the gun into the waistband of her long johns, she padded to the door, turning the knob carefully and looking up and down the darkened hall before stepping out. She'd made it halfway to the stairs when she heard another voice. Raspier. Closer.

"Touch it, baby. You know you want to. Oh God, my sock monkey loves it when you..."

Bella shuddered with a mixture of confusion, revulsion and arousal, and she paused. The sounds from within her sister's room quieted, but it didn't change the fact that there was a very dangerous, very perverted man sleeping in there. For a minute, she hesitated, uncertain if she should wake him or not.

The fact of the matter was that she had no idea whether or not Edward Masen was trustworthy. He'd ruined her truck, kidnapped her, literally scared the piss out of her, snooped around her house (ostensibly looking for bugs), gotten a hard-on while watching The Biggest Loser and then insisted on sleeping in her baby sister's room.

Never mind. She was one hundred percent sure she shouldn't trust him. But on the whole, she would feel better having a mob thug standing beside her if other thugs were trying to break into her home than having a mob thug possibly standing _behind _her, preparing to shoot her in the back.

The scratching downstairs morphed into a series of low banging sounds, spurring Bella into action. Swallowing hard, she strode back down the hall to the bedroom opposite hers. Relieved to find it unlocked, she slipped inside and closed the door behind her before turning to face the bed.

But then all thoughts of intruders and the many, many faults of the man before her were driven from her head.

Because, _damn_, the man was a sight to behold.

Laid out on the bed on his back, bare-chested with the sheets pulled up to just above his hips, he was ... stunning. Bella let her eyes linger on the lines of muscle carved into his trim frame, the light smattering of hair, and then the bolder line of it that led down to —

Bella's eyes practically bugged out of her head. Sock monkey didn't even begin to describe it. Sock gorilla might be more apt.

As she ogled, Edward stirred slightly, moaning and reaching down to adjust the aforementioned gorilla. Licking her lips, Bella watched as the long line of his body shifted beneath the sheets.

"Bella..."

As much as it turned her on, hearing him whisper her name in his sleep brought her back to herself. Pushing down the shameful desire to find out exactly how loudly she could get him to call out for her while he was awake, she took a deep breath and approached the bed. Reaching down, she tentatively touched his shoulder, shaking him and whispering his name. When he didn't respond, she shook him harder, speaking louder and closer to his ear. "Edward! Edward, wake up!"

His sleepy eyes drifted open, the deep circles of his irises rotating up until they found her face. "Huh?"

She let a little bit of the panic she'd felt earlier seep into her voice. "I think I heard something downstairs."

Edward's eyes squinted and focused a bit more tightly before widening. Then, to her shock, he closed them again and rolled over, grumbling, "Already fell for that once."

Confused, Bella reached out again and nudged him, hissing for him to get up already.

"I bet you're not even naked," he mumbled.

"What?"

Her half-shriek seemed to wake him up. He rolled back over and looked at her, his gaze sharper this time as it traveled down her body. Rather than admiring her curves, though, his eyes seemed to be on a fact-finding mission, and once he'd completed his perusal, he sat up suddenly, throwing off the sheets and revealing his black boxer briefs.

"Shit," he cursed as he reached behind him for a shirt and pulled it over his head. "I'm sorry. You heard – what?"

Bella had a hard time concentrating on her words as her eyes moved over the pale skin of his legs. "Noises," she stammered. "Downstairs. Scratching and then some banging. And voices."

He nodded and grabbed his jeans, tugging them on as he stood before reaching beneath his pillow and pulling out a handgun. Instinctively, Bella reached for the handle of her revolver, and Edward eyed her sharply.

"You know how to use that thing?"

Bella bristled at the implication. "Damn right, I do."

Edward regarded her with irritation, but then he sighed and motioned toward the door. "Follow me."

Deciding she'd rather have his back than the other way around, she nodded her agreement. He moved to the door, approaching it much the way that she had. Signaling that the coast was clear, he moved out into the hall, his gun pointed straight out in front of him.

Though it made her nervous to do so, Bella mimicked his position, staying a couple of feet behind him as they moved down the stairs, hugging the wall as they approached the front door.

"What the fuck?" he hissed, pulling up short.

Bella looked up at him quizzically, then followed his gaze down to the chair that was propped up against the front door. Embarrassed, she shrugged. "Habit, I guess. Our old apartment was in a crappy neighborhood."

Edward shook his head. "The only people you're going to stop with shit like that are idiots that don't know how to pop a win – "

His explanation cut off at just that moment as the window next to the door slid open with a groan. As one, Edward and Bella turned on their heels to face the intruders, and Bella felt a cold sweat rise up on the back of her neck as her finger hovered over the trigger.

But then a very familiar voice floated in, giggling dreamily. "Oh my God, Jasper, you're so _bad_."

Another voice pierced the darkness, laughing, and a blond head poked through the window. Bella's eyes widened, and she lowered her gun in a panic before tapping Edward's shoulder.

She needn't have worried, though. He was already dropping his arm, and when Bella looked up, it was to find his face rippling with emotion, his eyes blinking rapidly and his mouth falling.

Jasper's body landed with a thud inside the house. Without even glancing Edward and Bella's way, he leaned back out the window and pulled a smaller figure through. Setting down daintily, Alice was a mite bit more graceful in her dismount than Jasper had been, but there was something a bit off about her movements, and she was giggling erratically.

And then, before Bella's very eyes, the two teenagers shared a slow, tender, sensual kiss.

Bella watched slack-jawed for a minute before all the maternal instincts she had developed in the time since her father's death asserted themselves. Without thinking about the consequences — or about how the presence of the gun-toting man beside her would be received — she stalked over to the wall and flipped on every light-switch she could find.

Alice and Jasper leaped apart as if they'd had cold water dumped on them, and in her most disapproving voice, Bella ground out, "Alice Mary Swan. What on earth do you think you're – "

Alice had the decency to at least looked chagrined, but Bella still stopped mid-tirade when she realized no one else in the room was listening to her. Her eyes darted from Edward's face to Jasper's and back, finding the two of them staring at each other with dumbfounded expressions.

"Edward."

"Jasper."

It was readily apparent that, for all that both of them were shocked, their reactions were swiftly diverging, Jasper's into anger and Edward's into matching levels of despondency.

Alice was the first to break the silence. "What the hell are you doing pointing guns around?" She turned with a huff toward Edward. "And who the hell are you?" So quickly it would have been comical had the situation not been so tense, she shifted back again to look at Bella, her eyes widening. "Did you have a _boy_sleeping over?"

Bella sputtered for a moment, even as Edward and Jasper continued to stare at each other. She quickly found her voice again, though, and with it her righteous indignation. "No. Well, yes. Er ... it's not what it looks like. And anyway, never mind what's going on with me and Edward – which is nothing by the way. Why wouldn't we come down here with guns? It sounded like someone was breaking in!"

Huffing and crossing her arms across her chest, Alice answered with an equal level of annoyance in her tone. "Well, if you hadn't put that stupid chair against the door – "

"Excuse me! I didn't expect anyone I knew to be trying to get in at two o'clock in the morning."

Alice laughed and rubbed her eyes. Bella was surprised to find them looking alarmingly red. Alice replied, "Jasper's mom was out of milk, and we had all these brownies, and I know you always have milk. I love milk. And you have to have milk with brownies." Her eyes darted to the kitchen. "They were really good brownies, too. Kinda different, though. Jasper said they had a special ingredient ... "

At the same time, Jasper jerked his gaze away from Edward, and Bella widened her eyes.

"Alice, babe," Jasper said frantically. "Don't mention the – "

"_Alice Mary Swan. _Are you _high!_"

Seemingly uncertain where to look, Alice's eyes started ping-ponging between the two of them. "Um..."

Jasper stepped back toward the window. "Maybe I should go."

"Damn right, you better," Bella growled. Alice was her baby sister, her best friend, her reason for everything she had put herself through over the last few months...

"No, wait," Edward choked out as Jasper lifted the window.

Jasper turned his head to look at Edward for just a moment. When he did, his eyes were shockingly cold. And then without another word, he stepped through the small space there and out into the night.

**OoOoOoO**

For a minute, Edward just stood there, the piercing look his brother had given him searing itself into his chest. He didn't know what the fuck he'd been thinking, hoping Jasper might still want to have anything to do with him. It had been years, after all, and in that time, Edward hadn't made any real sort of contact. All he'd done had been to disgrace himself again and again.

And yet still, he'd had such hope...

Sparing just one look over his shoulder to see that Bella was following Alice into the kitchen, still screaming at her, Edward hesitated, but then made his mind up.

He was about to follow Jasper out the window, but then stopped short, rolling his eyes at himself and kicking the stupid chair out of the way. It landed with a hollow thud, and in the next moment, he yanked the door open and ran after his brother.

Jasper was already halfway to what Edward recognized as their mother's old car by the time Edward caught up to him. In the back of his mind, he knew full well that Jasper wasn't old enough to have his license yet, and he was about to say something about it when he decided that, considering his own brushes with the law, that was among the very least of their concerns.

Instead, Edward called out his brother's name, and when Jasper ignored it, he reached out and yanked on his sleeve.

The moment Edward's hand connected with his elbow, Jasper cursed and tore his arm away, rounding on Edward. The coldness in his eyes had been replaced with pure fury. Only, if Edward looked a little closer, he could see that there was hurt there, too.

Edward had put that hurt there.

"Jasper, please."

"Fuck off," Jasper sneered. "And keep your hands off me."

Edward raised his arms in a gesture of supplication, but it did nothing to break through his brother's hostility. Jasper did stop walking away, though, so at least Edward hadn't managed to fuck things up any worse. Yet.

"Just ... listen to me. Please. Can't we ... talk, or something?"

Jasper crossed his arms over his chest. "Now? You want to talk now? That's rich."

"Look, I know – "

"No, you don't. You don't know anything. How could you? _Years_, Edward. It's been years. And now suddenly, you show up out of nowhere in my girlfriend's house, pointing a gun at me. And now you want to talk?"

God, that did sound bad, didn't it? Edward raked a hand through his hair and pinched his eyes shut. When he looked up again, Jasper was huffing and walking away again, opening his car door.

And it was only then, with the light from the interior of the car spilling out, that Edward got his first good look at his brother in years. He looked so grown up, and Edward gulped at the realization of just how much time he had lost – how much of Jasper's life he had missed. With emotion clouding his eyes, he saw the way his once near-platinum hair had darkened into a sandy blond, the longer cut of it so different from how he'd worn it when he was a boy.

Edward did a double-take as the exact shade of blond registered in his brain. His gaze darted to his brother's other features, the angle of his chin and the blue of his eyes.

And he knew where he'd seen them before.

Bella's words floated back to him. _"Edward, Dr. Cullen, Carlisle, is your father."_

He hadn't believed it. Not really. But now, staring at Jasper, it hit him with resounding force.

Edward's hollow laugh resounded in the silence of the night, and Jasper turned, agape. "You think this is funny?"

"Hilarious," Edward agreed, scrambling for what he could possibly say that could keep his brother here and listening for long enough for him to explain. It wasn't his style, but eventually he landed on one desperate hope: the truth. Quietly and yet with deadly seriousness, he intoned, "You look just like our father."

It did the trick. Stiffening, Jasper shifted his entire body and closed the car door, facing his brother. "What did you just say?"

Digging into his jeans pocket, Edward pulled out his lighter and a pack of cigarettes, hoping to buy himself some time. As he lit one, he nodded toward the porch in a silent invitation, and he let out a deep exhale when Jasper finally nodded and moved to follow him.

As the two men sat down on opposite ends of the porch swing, Edward puffed on his cigarette contemplatively, watching how Jasper fidgeted, clearly dying to ask him again. When Jasper did speak, Edward couldn't help but notice that it was in a hell of a lot less confrontational of a tone. "You know something about our dad?"

"Yup." He hesitated. "Has Mom ever said anything about him? Since I've been gone?"

Jasper shook his head. "You know how she is. That much hasn't changed."

"No, I wouldn't imagine that it has." Edward stubbed out his cigarette in a potted plant before running his hand down his face. "Listen, I just found this out yesterday, and I don't have any proof. Hell, I didn't even believe it until I saw you and recognized ... God, you look so much like him."

"Who is he?"

Uncertain just how much to reveal, Edward spoke guardedly. "His name is Carlisle Cullen. He's a doctor in Forks. Little town a few hours from here."

_And he's made an enemy of the mob. Just so you know._

Jasper shook his head. "Never heard of him."

"I didn't imagine you would have."

"How did you – "

"Bella told me. Alice's sister. Apparently she knows him."

Jasper screwed up his face. "Our housekeeper?"

"Evidently," Edward said with a sigh, rubbing his eyes. "I still don't know what the fuck is up with that."

All was silent between them for a minute as Jasper processed. Quietly, he asked, "Do you think he's ... checking up on us?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Apparently he asked Bella for information on us."

"That's kind of fucked up."

"No shit." Hesitating briefly, he continued, "About as fucked up as me showing up out of the blue like this, huh?"

Jasper stiffened slightly, as if remembering that he was supposed to be mad at his brother. "Yeah. It's definitely on par."

Sensing that Jasper would be more receptive now, Edward tried to take on his most conciliatory tone. "I wanted to get in touch with you. I think about you and Mom all the time. All the time." He watched the way Jasper's mouth twisted into a frown, but he still hadn't gotten up to leave, and that had to count for something. "But I'm ... I got into some stuff, and it's not safe. For me or anyone I'm close to. And after the last time ... "

"You mean when I had to read about you going to jail in the paper?" Jasper asked acidly.

"Fuck," Edward breathed. "Yeah, that. I'm so sorry. I just ... I didn't have any choice. I tried, though, but Mom wouldn't let me see you, or ... "

He let his voice trail off into the quiet of the night.

"Yeah, well," Jasper finally said.

"Yeah."

Jasper turned to him, looking him in the eyes for the first time. "So now what?"

Edward's heart seemed to stick in his throat. Tugging on his hair, he remembered why he'd wanted out from under Aro's thumb in the first place. "Now ... now I'm trying to get out. What you want to do with that is up to you. But if you're willing, I want ... I want to be part of your life again. I want to find out who this Carlisle Cullen guy is." He forced his voice to remain neutral as he mentioned the name of the man whom it was his job it was to thwart – and who just might be their father. "I want Mom to not hate me."

"She doesn't hate you."

The shock of that statement struck Edward cold. He remembered the way she'd looked at him that second time he'd taken the fall for one of Aro's guys, the horror on her face. The disappointment. He could almost hear her tears as she'd said that she couldn't have anything to do with him again. She just _couldn't_, she'd said.

"You could have fooled me," he muttered bitterly.

"She keeps your picture in her room, you know. And if she didn't care, she wouldn't have been so devastated."

Edward swallowed hard. "She was devastated."

Nodding, Jasper placed his elbows on his knees and looked out into the distance, then glanced at his watch. "It's late."

It didn't escape Edward's attention that Jasper hadn't confirmed whether or not he'd let Edward see him again. Briefly, Edward considered telling him about everything – the money he'd put aside for him, the phone calls he'd started to make so many times. But he didn't want money or guilt to taint this decision. If Jasper was going to let him make up for the past, Edward wanted it to be because he wanted to.

"Okay," Edward said roughly.

"Do you want to, um ... give me your phone number or something?"

Edward's head snapped up, but then he tried to school his expression. "Yeah. Of course."

"I'm not promising I'll use it or anything. I still ... I don't know what to think. And I need to process, but ..."

"It's cool." It was more than he had hoped for. Then, as they traded phones, he had a second thought. "I'm just putting it in as E, though. Just ... just in case."

He didn't even want to imagine a scenario where he led Aro or one of his goons back to his brother. But he still had to do what he could to be prepared for that possibility.

"Gotcha."

As Jasper stood, Edward held out his hand tentatively. He couldn't have been more shocked when Jasper ignored it and pulled him into a quick hug. "I'm still mad as hell," Jasper said quietly. "But I missed you, damnit."

Edward smiled and patted Jasper's back, relishing the contact with another human being. It didn't happen to him much. "I missed you, too."

Jasper let go and started backing away. As he did, Edward glanced back toward the window of the house, peering through the gap in the curtains to see Alice still talking to Bella and drinking milk directly from the gallon jug in her hand. The sight of it reminded him of how Alice and Jasper had come to be breaking into Bella's house at two in the morning in the first place.

A cold shiver ran down Edward's spine.

"Hey, Jasper," he called out. When his brother turned around, Edward asked hesitantly, "Far be it for me to be trying to play the protective older brother card now, but ... where did you get the ... special ingredient? For those brownies Alice was talking about."

Jasper sighed and shook his head. "I only offered her one. I didn't realize she was going to go looking for more in the middle of the night."

Holding up his hands, Edward interrupted. "I'm not ... judging. I just want to know."

"A girl at school gave it to me," Jasper said nonchalantly. Edward thought it sounded evasive.

"Please," he insisted. "A name."

Jasper hesitated for a minute before finally admitting, "Jane."

_Fuck._

"Jane Volturi?"

Caius's daughter. Aro's niece.

"Yeah. Why?"

There was a thin prickle of panic across Edward's skin. "You aren't ... helping her or anything, are you? Doing little jobs?"

Jasper's guard was instantly up. "Nothing big."

_Double fuck._

Edward's own fall from grace had started out with "Nothing much," too. He tried his hardest to keep the fear and anger out of his voice, but he knew he was failing. If Aro got his clutches into Jasper ...

"You can't mess around with those people, Jasper. They don't play 'nothing big.' They suck you in and ... "

_And then the next thing you know, they own your fucking soul._

"You don't get to tell me what to do," Jasper replied, his tone growing chillier.

Edward knew he'd pushed too far. He wanted to keep pushing, but somehow, he managed to put a lid on it. "I know, I know," he said in distress. "Just be careful. Please." Lightening his tone, he added, "And _please_don't let Mom catch you stealing her car."

Grinning sheepishly, Jasper's expression softened. "I will. Be careful that is. And don't worry," he said with a wink. "Mom's never caught me before." With that, he got into the car.

It felt like saying goodbye all over again, but Edward held onto the small thread of hope he'd gotten from their conversation, remembering the way his brother had hugged him. That meant he'd let Edward fix things, right?

He was resigning himself to watching Jasper drive away when the car window rolled down and Jasper's head poked out. "So, um... I'll see you around, I guess."

"I'd like that."

Then, with a wave, Jasper drove off.

Feeling the exhaustion of the encounter — not to mention the crash from the burst of adrenaline he'd had when Bella had woken him up after only a few hours of sleep — Edward turned back toward the house. He opened the door tentatively and walked in, locking it behind him.

He didn't bother to replace the stupid chair.

"Did you tell him about his dad?"

Edward whipped his head around, startled, only to find Bella sitting in an armchair in the living room, staring at him expectantly. Through the thin fabric of her top, her nipples seemed to be staring at him, too.

The dream she'd awoken him from slammed back over him with unexpected force, and he was instantly hard. He could almost feel those nipples in his hands and taste them on his tongue, remembering the sleeping fantasy of her hand slipping into his underwear to wrap around his —

"Well?"

Her gaze told him that she knew exactly what he'd been looking at as he wrenched his gaze up to meet hers.

"Um," he started, stammering and flustered. "Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"How'd he take it?"

"I don't know." Edward sank into the chair opposite her and let his head fall into his hands. When he looked up again, it was to see Bella holding her revolver in her hands. For an instant, she pointed it straight at him, staring down the sight of it before she lowered the gun back to her lap.

It was terrifying.

And _fuck all_if a girl with a gun wasn't one hell of a turn-on.

"So, I'm trying to decide what to do with you," she said, her tone forcedly casual. "I finally got Alice up to bed, so you can't sleep there." Her eyebrow lifted in accusation. "And I made sure to tell her to change her sheets, I'll have you know."

Edward didn't like that implication. They'd been fucking Hannah Montana sheets for goodness' sake. Even he couldn't maintain an erection swaddled in those.

"You've got to be – "

Bella cut him off, lifting the hand that wasn't holding the gun. "I also made sure she locked her door. But this still changes things. Oddly enough, I'm not entirely comfortable with you sleeping here now that she's staying with us. And neither is she. Apparently, she's got a bit of paranoia in addition to the munchies." Bella paused, grimacing. "And since she met you while you were pointing a gun at her, she doesn't entirely trust you." She shifted the revolver in her lap. "And neither do I."

Edward couldn't blame her. The events of the previous day came back to him. The back and forth and the sexual tension. The embarrassing episode when he'd assumed she was a plant from the mob out to destroy his family.

He might have overreacted. A little.

Whether or not she trusted him, though, he still felt like it was his responsibility to make sure she was safe until he could figure out what was going on. Even thinking about the twisted web of intrigue that was woven around Aro and Carlisle and Bella and his family ... it made his head hurt.

Just like looking at Bella made some neglected portion of his chest hurt.

"Look – "

"But, as it happens, you destroyed my truck, and I can't get a new one until I talk to some people in the morning. So as of right now, that couch over there is your home, you are my personal chauffeur, and you and I are stuck with each other."

He could tell that her bravado was only that. Beneath the pretense at dominance, she was just a scared girl in her pajamas, but there was something more there, too. Some spark.

Hell if he could explain why, but he didn't just want to touch her nipples. He wanted to protect her. To keep her safe.

Even from himself.

"So, Edward. Do we understand each other?" she asked, eyes steady but voice wavering.

His own throat dry, his gun digging into his spine, he met her gaze unflinchingly.

"Perfectly."

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Thanks to theladyingrey42 the amazing author of 26 stories**, **including **Our Lives Unbound, The Music of the Night** and** Love Amongst the Ruins. **Please check out our profile for a link to her stories. **  
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